The Hunt
by Midnitesharingan
Summary: With ROOT destroyed, Naruto forms a group Mirai to hunt down all missing nins to ensure the support of Akatsuki will end. But is all this effort going to go to waste once Pein comes out of hiding? NaruXIno twins. Sequel to "Tattletale"
1. Chapter 1

Yes! I'm back! I went over my story like five times and I found my main issues, so part two should be quite better. I apologize for the lack of NaruXHina, but I'll redeem myself this time I promise. I think if I add some more description to my scenes I can make a very nice story here. Anyway, I'm not gonna bother with saying what I own and what I don't own. Jammer's mine and pretty much the only thing I claim under me. Ok, let's go!!!

**Chapter 1**

Another rainy night was nothing new to the inhabitants of the Land of Water. What most people would find soothing, the people that actually live in this country were more so annoyed by the falling water. Local inns and restaurants couldn't stand the water due to the leaks in the roofs of their establishments. You couldn't attract customers to a place with buckets spread all around the floor to catch the drippings from the sky; and, without the extra customers, there was no way to make any extra revenue in the businesses. The only place that had customers that didn't care about the leaks were the bars, and that's because all the customers were either drunk or had braved through worse conditions.

Unfortunately for the bars, majority of the customers there were all ninja. Everyone knew that shinobi that were raised in the Land of Water were the most paranoid shinobi ever created. The reason for this constant paranoia? The rain of course. The rain that could conceal the scent and tracks of the enemy. When rain hits the roof of a building most shinobi can't tell if it's footsteps or simply the rain. It's a gamble that no respectable ninja should ever lose. This gamble is what all the occupants of a tavern in a small town in the Land of Water called Orin.

Majority of the shops and stores were all closed in this small town. The only sources of light were the moon and the lights from the bar. Upon walking into this bar that looked like it could collapse at any moment, one would notice the amount of killing intent literally pouring out of the building. Reason for this? The paranoid ninja waiting for another paranoid ninja to make a move. Due to the amount of paranoia, the entire bar was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. The only sounds that could be heard were the pouring of the liquor at the bar, and the whispers of the allies at the multiple tables spread around the tavern.

It was an unwritten custom of the bar for all visitors to remove whatever hood or mask they had on. Leaving something on that could conceal your face would only add to the paranoia in the room. So when a person walks into the bar and leaves their hood on, they're either incredibly strong or incredibly stupid. Either way, it's always a gamble.

A hooded patron walked through the ancient wooden door with a worn, brown cloak over his body. Upon seeing the person, nearly everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the man. All the warriors in the establishment (shinobi and samurai alike) reached for their weapons as discreetly as possible just in case something broke out. The hooded man looked around for a seat in the tavern and finally found one at the bar. Upon taking his seat, the burly bartender stared at the new customer intently. Looking into the eyes of the bartender, one could tell he didn't want a fight to break out in his tavern. But upon closer inspection you could tell he wasn't afraid to get into a few scrapes himself. What with the missing left eye and multiple scars riddling his body; let's not forget the fresh bloodstains on his blue T-shirt. It was safe to say that he successfully broke up a fight earlier that night. His one brown eye kept shifting towards the hood of the cloak, but the mystery man simply ignored him and slapped a wad of bills onto the table.

"Get me the strongest shit you got." The mystery man demanded in a gruff voice, "And fix the fucking leaks in the roof. It's driving me insane."

Staring at the bills in front of him, the bartender quickly took it and went into the back to get the strongest whiskey he had. The mystery man began to drum his fingers on the counter as he waited impatiently. That, and he knew that everyone in the room had to be staring at him by now. He was planning on keeping to himself until he heard a voice next to him.

"You may want to consider removing your hood stranger. You're making everyone a tad uncomfortable."

The man turned to his left to see another man with a slashed Kiri hitai-ate on his forehead and messy black hair growing all around it. It was obvious he was a Kiri native because he was dressed in nothing but a black tee and black pants. Water didn't bother him one bit. The mystery man looked down to see the ex-Kiri nin's feet didn't quite touch the ground to say the least.

"I guess they don't prohibit underage drinking here. Shame really. And either way, I quite like my hood. Anyone have a problem with it can just fuck off. We're all missing nins here, why would we turn the other in? Not like any of you are Konoha ninja." The mystery man stated as he continued to drum his fingers on the countertop.

The occupants of the tavern began to "relax" after hearing the small speech and went on about their business. By now, the bartender had come back with the whiskey that the mystery man downed in a matter of seconds.

"Keep it comin good sir. And get a glass for my little friend here."

"Absolutely sir." The burly man replied and went to the back room again.

"You seem pretty generous stranger." The small man commented.

"Yeah, well with all the shit going on out there, we could use some more people like me."

The small man nodded in agreement as he stroked his black goatee. The bartender came back from the back room and handed the two of them another glass and two bottles so he wouldn't have to go back.

"I mean, it's just a damn mess. Three months ago you got people in Konoha killin people of Kumo for no good reason. Village after village making and breaking treaties. And to top it all off, they tell me there was an attack on Amegakure by Orochimaru that Akatsuki defended against. I just said 'fuck it' and left my shit hole of a village. We're all gonna die, I just wanna prolong it for a bit."

The smaller man chuckled.

"You got that right. We've all been trained for near all our lives to stop missing nins, but now I realize that this is the only way to live." The smaller man stated.

"No idiotic missions," The mystery man counted off on his hand, "No protection of the weak, and no getting paid five fucking bucks for risking my life every damn day."

The two of them laughed at this. MM downed another glass of the whiskey and snapped his fingers as he remembered something.

"But we can't even live like this anymore. Ain't there a rumor going around about a group of shinobi hunting down all missing nin?"

"Whoa, hold on there friend." The smaller shinobi warned, "That's some dangerous stuff to be spoutin about."

"Guess that means it's true then." MM sighed as he poured another drink, "So why you leave your country mate? Rules getting to you?"

"Naw, there were quite a few of us Kiri shinobi that left the village a few months ago. We heard about Konoha and Kumo…just decided to get the hell out before they began fucking with us." The small man took another drink, "But honestly, we've all be dropping like flies. Orin is probably the safest place for a missing nin in the Land of Water."

"Oh? Kiri's trackers getting you?" MM asked.

"No, it's that fucking group. Mirai. They're chasing us down like animals. No one even knows who's in the group. There have been no survivors from any attack."

"None? They use poison or what?"

The smaller shinobi stared at the hooded man for a moment. He then glanced to the whiskey he'd been drinking and shrugged his shoulders.

"May as well tell you. It's a jungle out there. Only thing we know for sure is that they use poisoned weapons. A real nasty venom. Some of the more experienced shinobi are trying to create an anti-venom but the shit keeps changing after every kill."

"Damn, sounds like a real pain. Only thing left to do is hide in a cake." MM stated as he took another drink.

The ex-Kiri nin looked at MM in confusion.

"Hide…in a cake?"

"So in all reality, you and a few of your loser friends left Kirigakure cause you were tired of dealing with all those snot-nosed brats. Another Chuunin exam would probably be the death of you…right?"

"What? Who…are you?"

MM downed his last bit of whiskey and slammed the glass onto the countertop.

"Miss me…Guppy?"

As those words left his mouth, two missing nins in the tavern dashed for MM. The hooded man merely ducked on his bar stool, and allowed the bartender to leap over the counter with two blue balls of chakra in each hand.

"Gaara!" The bartender called out.

After the name was called, a giant hand made of sand tore off the roof of the bar. Sand also blocked the exits of the building.

"Jammer!" The bartender called out.

The mystery man began making seals and ended on Monkey.

"Ikazuchi Hakai!" He shouted as he slammed his hands onto the wet ground.

Lightning raced all around the room, frying everyone that was caught in its path. Jammer removed the brown cloak he had on and adjusted his hitai-ate. His black cargo pants had bottles of liquor poking out of every pocket. The bartender poofed into smoke, revealing a smiling Naruto, clad in orange sandals and black cargo pants. His shirt now black with orange flames on the sleeves (Ino's new design). The sand that was blocking the exits returned to its source as Gaara walked into the remains of the bar, dressed in his basic red robe and black pants. He was rubbing his head out of irritation, which was normal when on a mission with Naruto and Jammer.

"That took entirely too long." Gaara told Jammer, "You both know that I hate rain."

"Yeah, I think he was enjoying being served by me a bit too much." Naruto added.

"Yeah, well I was TRYING to learn a bit more about these missing nin hideouts. They're terrified of us that's for sure." Jammer slurred out. "Damn room, stop spinning."

"And you're wasted on top of that. Way to go. Ino's gonna kill the both of us for letting you drink."

"I guess all there is to do is get drunk together?" Jammer asked the blonde hopefully.

"Later." Gaara stepped in. "We have to go back to Konoha now. Naruto?"

"One step ahead of you. The toads will love the rainy weather." Naruto said as he slammed his hand in the muddy ground.

When the plume of smoke dispersed, three large toads greeted the Namikaze heir.

"Take us home guys?" Naruto asked, "I got liquor for when we get back."

"Hell yeah!" The toads and Jammer exclaimed.

"You stole alcohol from the bar?" Gaara questioned.

"Yup. Sealed in into a scroll. We can open up our own bar in Konoha now!" Naruto said with a cheesy grin, "Don't look at me like that Gaara. With the amount of cash we gave that guy and his family the least he can do is give us all his liquor. He's gonna have a great life in Suna I'm sure. It's nice and dry."

"Ugh, let's just go. I need new friends." Gaara said to himself as he jumped on top of a blue toad.

"You get blood on your new headband Jammer?" Naruto asked his friend as he climbed aboard Gamakichi.

"Huh?" Jammer took off the headband and examined it.

The new black hitai-ates that were for Mirai members only was probably the boy's most precious item. The design of a small fire carved into the black metal was indeed cool, but if anything were to befall that hitai-ate there would be hell to pay. Hanabi did NOT like it when her art was damaged in any way. Jammer gulped as he remembered the young Hyuuga threatening all of them if they ever lost her creation.

"It's good!" Jammer shouted as the toads took to the air.

* * *

That's it! Chapter 1 is finished peoples. I just wanted to get my feet wet (so to speak). I look forward to Chapter 2. Anyway, that's the setting. Missing nins are scared of the group that Gaara made called Mirai (translates to future. Next chapter will explain why this name was decided). As for what happened in Konoha after the last chapter, that will be explained next chapter as well. I have NaruXHina next chapter, once again I apologize for neglecting that completely last story. I shall redeem myself!!! And yes that was the midget test proctor from the Chuunin Exams in last story. If you're confused, then you GOTTA read the first story. It's good! I promise! Okay, I'm starving. See ya'll later! R&R or R now and R later or never idc. Haha. Peace!


	2. Chapter 2

Haha, I got hate mail after hate mail about how I put the story under Naruto and Ino. It's kind of funny how the two main characters HAVE to be fucking in order to appeal to people. I mean I could do that in this story but I'm not into incest. Lmao. Anyway, let's get on with it. And perhaps we get to see Pein in this chapter? Not sure how far I'll get. I'm aiming for a 5k chapter. Now that we've seen how Naruto's doing, let's find out how the other Namikaze twin is fairing. Hm?

**Chapter 2**

"Ms. Namikaze."

"…"

"Ms. Namikaze, if you will please."

"…"

"INO!"

Ino shot up from her previous position. She looked around quickly; trying to recollect herself.

"I…" She looked at the other members of the council, hoping they'd give her some sort of idea as to what Tsunade just asked her.

"I…request a recess!" The young blonde declared.

The blonde was about to leave the circular table until she felt Tsunade's eyes staring an evil gaze through her head. And this is how it's been for the past two weeks with Gaara on another "business trip".

"Now," Tsunade began massaging her temples, "I will ask this once more. A simple question really. Have you brought the list of Mirai members for us to check?"

Ino reached into her white and purple cloak to produce a small scroll. She then tossed it to Tsunade and rested her chin on the circular table. Normally, she'd behave with much more class when she was in a council meeting, but today she honestly didn't give a damn. She was tired of being left in Konoha while her brother got to go out and hunt down missing nins. Granted, she just got back from her own hunting session with Hinata and Neji just a week ago, but she still hated staying in the village.

'_Ino, sit up straight. Come on now.'_ Inoichi's voice said in her head.

'_Daddy, it won't change the fact that this is nothing but a glorified prison cell.' _She responded.

In truth, the council room was a prison cell. Actually, a little worse than a prison cell. Because instead of being in a dim lit cell with (at the most) one person you couldn't stand, you were in a well-lit room with 12 people you didn't want to be around. Let's not forget the fact that there were no windows, no paintings, and no expression. Just an ivory table that complimented the ivory walls, a nice oak floor, and also a nice oak chair for everyone to sit. For someone as creative as Ino, this room was her own personal Hell. Unfortunately, she was the highest-ranking Mirai member in the village at the time and Tsunade only allowed the group to exist inside Konoha as long as they regularly attended council meetings. In a way she was treating Mirai like ROOT, but with trust.

Tsunade read down the list and began shaking her head. Ino could already tell an argument was going to come up. Not between herself and Tsunade, but with the other eight members of the new council that pissed her off. Out of the twelve at the table, Ino only personally knew her father (head of intelligence), Temari (ambassador of Sunagakure), Morino Ibiki (head of ANBU and village defense), and Tsunade herself. The other eight were all a part of the economics committee, civilian committee and blah blah blah. In a nutshell, Ino was about to lose her mind.

"And Suna is okay with this list?" Tsunade questioned Ino.

"Let Temari take a look at it if she wants. It's not violating anything in our agreement." Ino responded in a bored voice.

"Now just a moment!" one of the civilian committee members exclaimed. "We demand to hear this list of shinobi you're stealing from the village. Which, by the way, is a ludicrous idea in the first place!"

"You weren't saying it was ludicrous when Mirai paid your greedy ass money from all the bounties we've earned from other villages, you corrupt hypocrite." Ino spoke back without thinking.

Tsunade had to divert her gaze from the now trembling man before she began laughing out loud. The Hokage glanced at Temari, whom was sitting to Ino's left, with her hand over her mouth. Tsunade quickly cleared her throat.

"Ms. Namikaze, please refrain from shouting. Now, Mirai is not to be thought of as another village, but another ROOT. Minus the corruption of course. The agreement Konoha has with them is that they may utilize any shinobi that is under Jounin level as long as that shinobi is willing, and has an experienced shinobi with them. You can't get a ninja with more experience than the Kazekage himself, going out on these missions with the members of the group." Tsunade stated, "Also, they are doing us a great deed. As far as the other villages know Mirai has no affiliation with Konoha, meaning they can collect the bounties for all the missing ninja they obtain and split that money between Konoha, Suna, and Mirai themselves. Think of it as rent. And If I recall correctly, we've been getting a substantial amount of income in the last two months this group has been active."

Temari and Ino simply nodded their head as the elder blonde talked up Mirai.

"Even so," another elderly man contested, "Who are the ninja that they are requesting now? The shinobi that they obtain are theirs forever."

"You obviously didn't read the memo Haek-san." Temari stepped in, "The shinobi that enter Mirai can be called back to their original village at any time of crisis. Also, those shinobi that are called back to their villages work for free. My brother made this agreement that you ALL signed, very fair indeed."

"Yes yes, I understand that. Just get on with the list." Haek urged with a red face.

Temari, who currently had the list, looked to Tsunade. The Hokage simply nodded, prompting Temari to read the list.

"Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji, Hyuuga Hinata, Morishi Tenten, Inuzuka Kiba, Rock Lee, Aburame Shino, Sarutobi Konohamaru-"

"Absolutely not!" The council shouted.

Ino simply smiled to herself as they group began arguing over Konohamaru's staying in the Mirai. She told Naruto twenty times that the boy wouldn't be able to be in the group until he made Jounin, seeing how he's the Third's grandson. She knew her brother would get cranky if she didn't at least defend his request…but then again, if he wanted Konohamaru in then he should've fought for it himself. She wasn't going to waste her energy in this losing battle.

"Okay, okay. So we'll take Konohamaru out. We just thought it'd be nice to have a child in our group. I mean, we're called Mirai cause we're fighting for the future. We thought we could use the brat as a mascot or something." Ino shouted in an attempt to quiet the room. "Now is this meeting done with? I have important matters to tend to."

'_My ass you have important business.'_ Ino heard Temari's voice in her head and tried to refrain from smiling.

The two girls had become very close in the last few months. Not only due to the fact that their brothers urged them to talk with one another (Kankuro and Naruto. Gaara couldn't care less), but also the fact that they both loved annoying the shadow manipulator. In fact, whenever Temari had to come to Konohagakure she always stayed with the Namikazes even when that meant Jammer having to sleep outside.

"You, Namikaze Ino, should be a lot more considerate seeing as we're allowing your little cult to reside in our village." One of the members shouted.

"Yeah, a cult that you all approved of immediately." Ino responded quickly, "How about we just scrap the whole thing? The Namikazes can just become missing nins. Oops! That won't be for very long, cause guess who would take us in even if we had the world against us. THE KAZEKAGE! Then you can tell your great great grandchildren how you ran out the last two heirs of the Namikaze name because you were too damn ignorant to keep to yourself. Brilliant idea."

On the inside, Tsunade was laughing her ass off. She already knew what Ino was trying to do, but it wasn't going to work. The Namikaze princess was trying to get banned from council meetings all together, but she has entertained the Hokage so much that Tsunade was going to request her to always be in the weekly meetings.

"With that, I believe the meeting is over." Tsunade said as she rose from her seat.

As usual, she was the first person out of the room. But this time, she didn't leave due to an impending headache; instead, she was trying to get to her office where she could laugh at the young blonde's antics.

* * *

After saying bye to Inoichi, Ino and Temari left for the nearest ramen stand. The girls joked about the elders of the council and talked about things that annoyed their brothers the most.

"I'm serious, Gaara will freak out if you stare at him long enough." Temari laughed as she slurped her noodles, "Kankuro does it to him whenever he's pissed off."

"All you have to do for Naruto is tell him you'll buy him all the ramen he wants if he can perform the most basic kata with a katana." Ino giggled as she reached for her third bowl.

"You mea-?"

"He has NO talent for weapons of any sort. He's the anti-Tenten." Ino choked out, "When the monks tried to teach us to use weaponry, Ruto nearly chopped Ero-sennin's head off. Needless to say, he was banned from using anything but kunai and shuriken."

"Well, he's got an arsenal of chakra at his disposal. Has he ever run out before? Like after your guys' training?"

"Hmmm…" Ino thought as she downed the last of the broth in her bowl, "He can only use the fox's chakra in small doses, but as long as he focuses he won't run out. If he gets flustered then he starts to draw the demon chakra involuntarily."

"Really. Gaara usually ends his fights by putting all his chakra into one attack. I've been begging him to break that habit, but he never listens."

"Haha, if Naruto was to put all his chakra into a rasengan…that would be one huge explosion." Ino then moaned and put a wad of bills on the counter of the ramen stand, "They're back. Shall we go greet them?"

Temari shook her head at her friend's premonition. She knew better than to ask how Ino knew the boys were back because if she did the only response would be, 'twin thing.'

The girls walked towards the gates of the village side by side. During their walk Temari remembered a question she was meaning to ask for a while.

"So…about you and Jammer." Temari began.

Ino was already worried where this question was heading, but merely raised an eyebrow and continued looking forward.

"You two are together…right?"

"Define together." Ino replied dryly.

"I take that as a no?"

"Oh no. It all depends on what your definition of together is. You can mean together like, 'Always spending time together, holding hands, kissing under the tree' type shit. Or you can mean, 'Rarely see each other, never showing affection in public, always at each other's throats' together." Ino spoke without missing a beat as if she had this conversation before.

"Umm, which together are you two?" Temari asked lightly.

"You can decide that for yourself in just a second." Ino said pointing to the group of boys ahead of them.

Gaara was in front of the group with his hand on his head. He made brief eye contact with Ino which just screamed out, "They're your damn problem now." The red head nodded toward his sister and quickly headed toward the hotel room he was staying at.

"Oy! Gaara! Don't be such a pooper!" Naruto called after his friend, "Ino! How did your council meeting go?"

Jammer began laughing aloud upon Naruto's mention of the council meeting. They both knew Ino would want to kill them for making her do that, but the idea of her sitting in a room for hours on end was humorous indeed.

"Konohamaru ain't on board with Mirai." Ino said as she gave her brother a hug around his neck.

"Whoa, what got into you?" Naruto chuckled as he hugged her back, "And that doesn't mean much of anything. Temari ain't officially on board either. Mainly cause she's ambassador I guess…"

"Yeah, but the thing with Temari is she's not the honorable grandson. She's also Jounin level in Suna as opposed to K-boy being a Genin in Konoha." Jammer said, "Shall I point out more differences?"

"You've done enough." Naruto said to his friend as he released his sister, "If you guys will excuse me, I have to find Hinata. Is the old man in town Ino?"

"Yeah. He's somewhere around here. I think Hinata is training with Hanabi right now…he's not listening." Ino muttered to herself as her brother ran for the Hyuuga compound.

Temari tried to not draw attention to herself as she watched the couple before her. Jammer and Ino stared at each other for a brief second then looked away. Ino was about to say something but Jammer beat her to it.

"You got some veteran shinobi trying to make vaccines to your venoms. May wanna be careful on your choices now." The ex-Kumo nin said calmly.

"Is that…alcohol on your breath? At two in the afternoon no less?" Ino glared at the boy.

"Don't you get on me about alcohol. I risk my life daily. You mean to say I can't have a drink whenever I want?"

"You said you wouldn't drink while on missions. Did you lie about that too?"

"Just like how you promised Naruto you'd fight to have Konohamaru in Mirai?"

Ino looked away from Jammer's face.

"I knew it. You have no right to call me a liar. You're a liar yourself."

"Like I care what a drunk says about me."

"Why don't you pull that stick out your ass."

"If I did I'd probably beat you to death with it!" Ino turned around and walked toward Temari, "See how he is? Fucking asshole."

"Hey! I'm not done talking to you yet!" Jammer ran after Ino.

Ino felt Jammer put his hands on her shoulders and was just about to send a roundhouse kick to his head. That is, before Jammer's lips meet with hers. It was a quick kiss, but it did what it was supposed to. Jammer pulled away and smiled at the blonde.

"I missed you too." He said to the blushing girl in front of him.

"What…what are you gonna do tonight?" She asked, trying to break from her shock of the sudden kiss.

"Oh, you know. Harass Kiba, train, bathe. You?"

"I mean where are you staying, baka."

"Well, Temari's here, so I guess I'm gonna be outside."

"Well…" Ino began.

Temari watched the odd couple holding each other in the street. She was expecting Ino to turn around and deck Jammer when he spun her around. Hell, she was planning on throwing a punch as well. So when she watched them acting like a normal couple after the show they just put one…saying she was confused is an understatement. She saw Ino whispering something to the boy, then before separating she pecked him on the cheek and walked back to Temari. The Suna kunoichi was confused to see Jammer's surprised face after whatever Ino just told him.

"Let's go Temari." Ino beckoned the girl, "So? What you think of that?"

"You two are…eccentric." Temari laughed.

"Hm, eccentric. I like that." Ino laughed as the girls traveled back to the Namikaze home.

* * *

Naruto literally sprinted to the Hyuuga compound like a man possessed with a warm breeze blowing past him. He hadn't seen Hinata in over a week now and he couldn't take it any longer. Of course he had a picture of her whenever he left for missions, but seeing the smile in person was just so much better. That and he never had to hear Jammer or Kiba's constant teasing whenever he was caught ogling the simple picture of Hinata smiling at him. As he ran through the village he began to ponder how he lived for thirteen years without seeing the girls gentle smile every day. While in mid-sprint, Naruto's body suddenly froze stiff and stood straight up.

'_The hell?' _He thought to himself.

"I was calling to you just a second ago and you completely ignored me." Naruto heard a voice behind him, "Such a troublesome guy I swear."

"Oh, sorry Shikamaru. I'm listening now, so can you drop the jutsu?" Naruto pleaded with the Nara.

Shikamaru walked from behind Naruto and patted him on the back. His shadow immediately retracted back to its original state.

"Nice to see you came back from your mission alright. I take it everything went without a hitch?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Wow, you sound like you were concerned. We had Gaara with us, and you know he's a good strategist." Naruto watched his lazy friend smirk a bit.

"Whatever. Main thing I was worried about is where I could take a nice nap outside. The damn September clouds aren't giving me any nice sun beams lately." Shikamaru said with his hands behind his head.

"Whoa, it's September?" Naruto counted on his hands for a moment, "I completely lost track of time. Hahaha, I thought it was still July. That was close, almost bought Kiba a chew toy for his birthday."

"So instead you didn't get him anything for his birthday." Shikamaru stated.

"Oh…that's why he's been so cranky with me." Naruto laughed to himself.

"Such a pain sometimes Naruto. Anyway, I didn't want to keep you from Hinata too long. Just wondering if I'm officially in Mirai now."

"Oh yeah. Ino just came from the meeting and gave them the list. I don't think there were any objections for your entering. Umm, I can get Hanabi-chan to carve you a hitai-ate later today if that's okay with you. Any preference in cloth color?"

"As long as it's not a neon color I don't really care." The Nara replied as he stared at the sky, "I guess I'll go look for Temari now. I'm sure she has something to say about the meeting."

"Yeah, I think she was the only blonde in there that was paying attention." The Namikaze heir laughed to himself, "Later Shika!"

Shikamaru turned around and waved behind him as he walked down the road toward the Namikaze's home. Naruto then went back to his prior task, and raced for the Hyuuga compound.

After a few moments of running, the blonde jumped over the fence of the compound and headed straight for the outdoor training area that was enclosed by the main branch mansion. Even if the clouds were blocking the sun, it was still a fairly warm day out; meaning Hinata and Hanabi would be training outside. The blonde jumped onto the roof of the mansion and ran for the center where he could smell the two girls he was looking for. Naruto leapt off the roof and landed in front of the girls, who had their Byakuugans blaring. Naruto couldn't help but compare his girlfriend to an angel since she was dressed her white gi. Hanabi resembled a miniature Hinata, but her attitude was down right scary during combat training.

"How my girls doin today?" Naruto asked.

Hinata walked to the grinning boy and kissed him on the cheek. Something that she had been working on the last few weeks. She was getting tired of not being able to kiss her boyfriend without blushing. The progress so far was just a kiss on the cheek. If their lips meet then she'd resemble a tomato.

"I take it your mission was a success?" Hinata asked the grinning boy.

"You shouldn't run on the roof of the house like that Naruto-san." Hanabi told the boy as she deactivated her Kekkie Genkai, "Father already dislikes you. Do you really want to upset him?"

Naruto walked to Hanabi and squatted so he was at eye-level with her. The girl eyed him suspiciously. Naruto then turned his head to see one of the shingles from the roof lying on the ground, broken in five places. Naruto turned back to Hanabi with a finger over his lips in an attempt to shoosh her.

"It'll be our secret." He whispered to her before planting a kiss on her forehead.

The girl's face turned red so quickly that Naruto thought it was a genjutsu.

"I…I should kill y…you where you stand!" Hanabi shouted as she covered her blushing face.

"Bring it on shrimp." Naruto put his arms behind his back, "I'll take you AND your sister without even using my arms."

"Challenge accepted!" Hinata shouted from behind Naruto, "Ready Hanabi?"

"Always am." Hanabi responded as she set into her Jūken stance.

Naruto stood in between the girls with a smile on his face. The only indication that he was ready could be seen in the slight bend in his knees. Hanabi noticed this and signaled to her sister to strike first. Hinata rushed Naruto, hoping to stun his legs with a quick strike. Naruto jumped into the air with a frog-like leap into the air, completely evading Hinata's attack. Hanabi then rushed in while Naruto was in the air and attacked him with an open palm to his back. Naruto turned his head to see Hanabi coming at him. The determination that was in Hanabi's face left her instantly when she saw Naruto make a kissy face to her. When she lost her concentration, Naruto lightly kicked her to the side.

Naruto landed on the ground, spun around, then kissed Hinata on the lips. The girl blushed and froze stiff. Naruto turned around to see Hanabi attacking him with renewed vigor. Her strikes were so fluent that Naruto was worried that he'd have to use his arms to defend properly. Hanabi began to get so frustrated with the blonde's constant dodging that she dropped her Jūken stance and launched a right haymaker for the boy's head. Naruto was caught off guard with the sudden…Naruto-like attack and took the punch head on. He fell to his knees, holding his nose.

"Ahh! Hanabi! I think it's…" He began.

Removing his hands from his face, the blonde spat a brown liquid at the girl that drenched her thoroughly. The look of disgust on her face was clearly apparent. Naruto fell back on his back and began laughing.

"This is disgusting!" She shouted.

"Nope, it's toad oil." Naruto choked out.

"It smells atrocious. Either way, you cheated." Hanabi pointed her finger at Naruto.

"Now now, that's not very Hyuuga-like. First you launch a really nice punch for my head and now you're pointing fingers? For shame."

Hanabi crossed her arms and looked away from Naruto. She didn't want to admit he was right. If her father had seen her acting like this she'd have to go through etiquette lessons for the next two years.

"Hanabi, go get cleaned up." Hinata said as she took Naruto's cloak off of him and wrapped her sister in it, "So you won't track that muck in the house. Hurry now."

Naruto patted the Genin on the head and smiled at her.

"When it's just you and me, you can be a kid. If you want to learn a new style of fighting then just ask." He told her.

Hanabi stared at the boy in confusion. She was about to leave, but turned around and gave Naruto a big hug. To anyone passing by, the scene would be heartwarming…but Hanabi was simply getting revenge by wiping the sludge onto Naruto's person.

"I'll keep it in mind, Aniki-baka." She said before hawking a loogy and going into the house.

Hinata was shocked at what she just witnessed her sister do, but the shock left her as she saw the smile on her boyfriend's face.

"You taught her how to do that?" She asked.

"Looks like there's a kid in there after all." Naruto laughed as he tried to wipe the toad oil off of his clothes, "Don't let your dad see her with my cloak. He'll flip."

Hinata walked up to Naruto and kissed him deeply. She linked her arms around the back of his neck and pulled away from his bewildered face. She could feel her face shining as red as ever, but she didn't care at this time.

"What was that for? I gotta find out what I did to deserve that and do it some more." The blonde said as he wrapped his arms around Hinata's lower back.

"Just for being amazing. I've never seen Hanabi like that. I…I didn't even know she knew what a loogy was! How did you even teach her? When?" Hinata bombarded Naruto.

"I'll tell you tonight. At that new seafood place that opened in the south district? Unless you'd rather go to its opening night with someone else…"

"The new one? How did you even get reservations for the opening night? You didn't spend too much did you?"

"Nuh uh. I'm not telling you. I'd lose my amazingness factor." He replied with his 'pedo grin'.

"That's not even a word Naruto." The couple heard Neji's voice behind them, "Can you two stop that now? The maids in the house are talking about how cute you two look."

Neji looked as though he had just come from a training session with Team Gai because he had dirt all over his normally white robes. His hair was still a mess, meaning he was incredibly tired after the workout with his team to not even have the energy to fix his long hair. The couple separated and noticed Neji's questioning stare at the brown sticky substance on their clothes.

"You obviously didn't see Hanabi on your way out." Naruto laughed, "It's only toad oil. Oh! And you guys are now in Mirai. Whenever Hanabi gets a chance, can she make some more hitai-ates? I got all the metal in my cloak."

"Good to hear. I'll be sure to pass that message on to her when she finishes bathing. Now I have to know, how did you get reservations?" Neji stared at Naruto.

"Why? Trying to surprise Tenten?" The blonde shot back.

"…Touché Namikaze." Neji smirked, "Anyway, Hinata. I was supposed to remind you about your meeting with Kurenai-sensei."

"Oh, thank you Neji. When are we going out Naruto?" The girl asked the blonde.

"Well it officially opens at eight. Let's go at nine to be fashionably late. I'll even wear my nice suit." He added with an even bigger grin.

"Okay, see you tonight then. Don't be late again."

"I already apologized for that time. Kiba was asking for an ass kicking."

She gave him one last smile before heading for the door. Neji nodded toward Naruto and followed Hinata inside. Naruto jumped onto the roof and headed for the hot springs.

'_Man I hope Ero-sennin has those reservations he promised. I got a lot riding on tonight.' _He thought to himself as he searched for his Godfather.

* * *

Whoooo, that was an alright chapter. Just establishing everyone's relationships and all. Naruto and Hinata are just so sweet together. Ino and Jammer are just funny. And I think I'll even have Hanabi play a part in this one. Oh, and just so you know, the reason they're having her carve the hitai-ates is cus she has amazing chakra control. I'll go into detail next chapter. Also in the next chapter, hilarity will ensue at the restaurant, Jammer and Kiba go through the bingo book, and we find out what Pein's planning. And I got an awesome idea for a new Akatsuki member. It's gonna be an original character sooooo it's gonna be ballin. To the people that are joining the story now cus they just read Tattletale in the last few days I must thank you for giving it a chance. Now sit back, relax, and let me go to work for you. Haha, if you guys have any questions or just wanna praise my genius then drop a comment. I usually reply to them. Hmmmm I think that's it. Til next time peoples. R&R or R now and R later. (Some people won't read a story unless it has lots of reviews. THEIR LOSS!) lol peace!


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry this chapter took so long to make guys. I have all the ideas in my head but…idk. Writer's block I guess. I just don't like forcing chapters. Well, time to move on to chapter three that will intro an awesome villain, answer a few questions and just make me look like a comic genius. And I noticed, the majority of people that actually read my stories make some really unique stuff. For example, this new guy Lil Jerusalem is makin a story that SAKURA has the curse seal. Mad awkward…but I can't look away. Ok, enough promoting, here's my 5k chapter to you all!

**Chapter 3**

Gaara lay on the bed of his hotel room. He was always invited to stay with the Namikaze's but he disliked staying with the blondes. Their home was always so busy and full of energy. The Kazekage loved them dearly, but if he were around them for too long he'd get a headache in a moment of minutes. He also didn't like it when Naruto tried to stay awake around him because the blonde hated sleeping when Gaara was around. Gaara figured Naruto was just trying to be courteous seeing how the red head couldn't sleep himself.

So, instead of the hustle and bustle at the Namikaze household, Gaara stayed in his plain, beige colored hotel room. The room was small indeed; having only one full size bed, one window to the right of it that had a clear view of the Hokage monument, and a small bathroom. Temari constantly asked Gaara why he didn't get a larger room at one of the more elegant hotels, but the Kage stated that he liked going some place where the workers didn't kiss his ass. That, and no one would expect to find him in such a mediocre establishment. Not that he was paranoid or anything. He just wanted to stay hidden from his "wife". Unfortunately, he had been discovered today.

While he stared at the ceiling he heard a faint scratching at his door. The red head didn't want to open the door so he tried to ignore it. The scratching persisted and was followed by a light meow.

'_Ugh, she found me.'_ He thought to himself as he sent a stream of sand to open the door.

As the door opened Gaara felt an unknown mass jump onto his lap. He sat up to see a blue furred cat with black eyes and black ears. It was just under a foot tall with an equally long tail. The odd colored cat stood at attention on Gaara's lap and stared into space as though it saw something behind the Suna shinobi. Gaara was going to ask it what it was doing there but the cat beat him to it.

"Kazekage-sama. It was quite a task to find you." The cat spoke in the last voice he wanted to hear at this time.

"Robyn, is all well in Suna?" Gaara asked as he massaged his head.

"You didn't even ask how I'm communicating with you. You're no fun." The cat said.

"Well this is obviously a summon seeing how the cat is purple."

"I have such an intelligent husband."

Gaara rolled his eyes and stretched out on the bed again, arms behind his head.

"Alright I'll let you in on the secret." The cat spoke again, "They're Siamese summons. I have one in front of me right now. They act as radios. The cats themselves can move wherever they want and still give crystal clear reception. Proud of me?"

"Would you like a cookie?" Gaara asked in his bored voice.

"Some praise would be nice. Me and Kankuro ARE doing your job while you run around playing cops and robbers with Naruto."

"I guess that inside information about your summons is a perk to having a cat demon sealed inside of you. How is Kankuro doing? The village isn't burned to the ground?"

"Yes, he's doing fine. More than likely it's from talking to the Raikage all that time when you all went to Kumo. He's a really good stand-in. That and he's a lot more fun than you."

"That's nice to hear. The past three missions Mirai carried out have been successful. Any word on Akatsuki movements from Suna?"

"Work work work. Is that all you think about? You're on a small vacation right now. Try to be a little more relaxed. Ask how your wife's doing. Shower her with affection."

"I'm about to kill your summon." Gaara warned, "Now why did you send a summon all the way to Konoha? Try to be serious for a moment please."

Gaara couldn't stand how much Yugito goofed around when she had something important to say. He was sure she had the attention span of a cat. Then again, he couldn't blame her. She was groomed to be a weapon of Kumogakure after all. Ever since she went to Suna it was as if she was having the childhood that was taken from her.

"Fine." Her tone changed instantly to the more serious/deadly killer through the cat summon, "New guy just sprang up. He comes from Kibagakure and he has a nasty habit of killing everything he sees. Proof of this can be seen in the slaughter of all the shinobi of a Kibagakure outpost. His name is appropriately Fang. Bingo book has nothing on the guy so you may want to be wary next time you guys go on a mission. He was last seen going toward Kumogakure."

"Who found him and give me a description."

"Original description: skinny eleven year old boy, wild shoulder length black hair, green eyes, sickly pale skin, long nails, and nearly covered in dried blood. He was last reported wearing only tattered black pants. No shoes of any sort. Most prominent feature is the kanji for blood carved into his chest. Reports from recon team five."

"…Sari's team?"

"She's fine. They got the information from the survivors of the outpost. All two and a half of them. The main thing that's clear is that Fang is merciless. The survivors mentioned Fang biting one of the shinobi in the neck and yanking until something came out."

"Do they have any idea as to what sent him off the edge? A small boy going into a frenzy like that is a bit much, don't you agree?"

"Nothing that majority of Kibagakure doesn't suffer through. Loss of family, pressure to be the best shinobi, constant warring. The shinobi that Sari's team questioned said, and I quote. 'Fang was a monster since he was able to hold a kunai.' You want me to send a team to Kumo?"

"No, it would be useless. I doubt he'd kill everyone in Kumogakure anyway. Besides, your mentor Kirābī is still there. Correct?"

"Not sure. The only thing keeping him in the village was me and his brother. With both of us gone he probably left."

"Is that all?" Gaara inquired.

"Few more things. The nin you were researching before you left, Mushra, was reportedly seen in new black robes that were decorated in red clouds. Seen headed toward Fire Country. Got that information two days ago. Also there have been reports of activity from Otogakure in the last few days. Do you think-"

"That Orochimaru defeated Pein? Because you said Mushra has Akatsuki robes I seriously doubt Orochimaru would continue to operate the organization. If what Naruto said is true then he already had the Sharingan. Only thing left for him to do would be destroy Konoha. I'll keep that in my mind as a possibility though." Gaara stood up and walked out the door with the cat on his heels.

"I'm going back to Suna." He told the cat, "Temari and I will arrive in three days time. If we're late then send a team to find us. I really don't like the idea of Mushra coming towards the village."

"Hai. Be careful." That cat spoke in Yugito's voice gently before it unsummoned itself.

Once outside, Gaara jumped onto a cloud of sand and hovered towards the Namikaze home under the moonlight.

* * *

"What about this guy? He calls himself The Punisher"

"Big words for a C-ranked shinobi."

"Say what you want, he still hasn't been captured yet."

"Kiba, we both know you can find that guy in a matter of seconds. And evading hunter nins ain't a big feat. Now if he encountered them and fought them off? THAT'S amazing."

Kiba and Jammer sat in front of Kiba's home. The two had been reading through the bingo book and making fun of the shinobi inside of it. As Jammer turned to the next page, Kiba tossed a ball towards Akamaru. The white dog sprinted after the ball and ran back to his master.

"You're bored too boy?" Kiba asked as he pet his friend on the head, "We'll get out of here soon enough. Just waiting for that hitai-ate to be made then we're official."

"I don't believe this." Jammer said as he flipped through all the pages.

"What? None of us are in there right?" Kiba questioned.

They all agreed that whoever was actually in the bingo book wouldn't be able to go on a large sum of missions. Shikamaru stated that if an assassin were in the archive then their targets would have information as to how the assassin fought. The last thing they wanted was for someone to discover who was a member of Mirai or who was affiliated with the organization. With this knowledge the group always freaked out when a new bingo book was created. The encyclopedia was being updated monthly with all the shinobi running away from their respective villages. Gaara believed the outbreak of missing nins was caused by the fear of Akatsuki.

"No, none of us are in it. That's what I'm pissed about." Jammer tossed the book to the Inuzuka, "Kumogakure completely forgot about me! I'm not in the missing nin section!"

"You idiot! We're not supposed to be in the damn book. Besides, Kumo had you listed as dead a long time ago!"

"Kiba that's bullshit. I should be SOMEWHERE in here. I mean, look at me!"

"Oh, here you are." Kiba stared at the book.

"For real? I'm A-ranked right?"

"Nope, says here you're a B-rank. As far as description it just says: Currently dating Namikaze Ino. What a let down, eh?"

"You're lying. Give me that." Jammer dove for the book.

Kiba jumped out the way and jumped onto the roof of the house.

"Looks like they just have you in here cause you're boning a celebrity. Ah, what's this? The B in B-rank stands for bitch. That's gotta hurt." Kiba said while laughing.

"Get back here mutt!"

"What you gonna do about it, Alchy?" Kiba shouted from the top of the house.

"I like to have a drink every once in a while. Sue me!"

"More like every other minute."

"Come down and say that to my face!"

"Naw, I like where I'm at right now. On top of you." Kiba laughed to himself.

"…That's the gayest thing I've ever heard you say!"

"Not like that!"

"Then wha-"

Jammer stopped shouting when Hana kicked the front door open. The girl was dressed a white tank and light blue pajama pants.

"What are you two retards doing? Some people are TRYING to sleep!" She shouted.

"Chill Sis. It's only eight o'clock. Why you sleeping so early?" Kiba asked as he jumped off the roof.

"Hana you're so hot." Jammer said aloud.

"Hey! You got a girlfriend you dick!" Kiba screamed.

"I'm just making a comment on your sister's hotness. Why you getting all flustered? Want her for yourself?"

"Jammer? I'm gonna kill you!"

"Both of you shut up!" Hana screamed as she punched the two on the head.

The boys rolled around on the ground in pain.

"And so you know, I have a mission early in the morning. They need my expertise and I need my sleep to give it to them. Can't you two go somewhere else and be idiots?" Hana glared at the two.

"Yeah, we're going. Let's roll Akamaru!" Kiba called for the dog.

"No you don't. Akamaru is staying with me. Before I leave I have to give him his shot because I KNOW you didn't."

"Hana when you come back from your mission I'll take you out for some fun. Maybe dancing, yeah?" Jammer asked as he stood up.

"Jammer get the hell away from this house." Hana warned him, "Now!"

"And stop saying that stuff!" Kiba shouted as he chased after the ex-Kumo nin.

* * *

"Hanabi-chan, where did you put Naruto's robe?" Hinata asked her sister.

The younger Hyuuga sat cross-legged on her ivory colored bed with black metal plates on her left and cloth to her right. Her pink nightgown had a sheet of metal on her lap as she carved the symbol for Mirai into it. With her finger glowing blue, she pointed down.

"Underneath the bed. I know better than to leave it in the open Hinata." She stated as she returned her focus on the black plate lying in her lap.

"Okay then. And you be careful with your carvings. If father saw them you'd be in a world of trouble." Hinata warned her sister as she walked to the bed.

"I know Hinata." Hanabi sighed.

"So…do you think this is…appropriate?" Hinata asked her sister.

Hanabi held a finger in front of her. She finished the last line on the piece of metal and let out a breath of air. Her finger stopped glowing blue as she exhaled. Looking up at her sister, Hanabi opened her mouth in awe. She hadn't seen Hinata in this red dress before. It ended just past her knees and had spaghetti straps over her shoulders. The matching red heels she was wearing complimented the dress wonderfully.

"You look very pretty Hinata." Hanabi smiled to her sister, "Naruto will be happy."

"That's what I'm hoping for." Hinata giggled to herself, "Hanabi, they look great."

Hinata sat beside her sister on her bed and picked up a finished hitai-ate with matching black cloth.

"Who's is this?" Hinata asked the girl.

"Oh…mine?" Hanabi blushed.

"Hanabi." Hinata said in a stern voice.

"I think I deserve one is all. I'm doing all the hard work here. Without me you all would have to rely on some guy that pays no attention of detail." Hanabi said as she grabbed another sheet of metal, "Besides, Naruto told me to make one for me and Konohamaru."

Hinata took a deep breath and stood up. She knew that arguing with her sister would get her nowhere. In truth, the young girl was indeed an accomplice to Mirai. She made the design and came up with the idea of it being on a different color of metal to further separate the group from other shinobi groups.

"Also, I'd like to speak with Kazekage-sama about expanding the group. I believe he's the only one that actually takes my ideas seriously." Hanabi said as she began to work on another hitai-ate.

"Fine, you win. We'll talk to the others tomorrow. For now, you just finish working on those and don't let father see them. I'm going to Naruto's. I don't want him to be late again this time." Hinata bent down and kissed her sister on her forehead.

"Have fun onee-chan." The young Hyuuga called out without looking up from her work.

Hinata smiled, grabbed Naruto's robe and left the room. Now she just had to get out of the house without her father catching her.

'_I'm sure he'd kill me if he saw me. If not for the dress then for having an article of Naruto's clothing.'_

* * *

"Tsunade-sama, you should really go out. You're somewhat caught up on your work. Don't you think you should go to that new restaurant that's opening?" Shizune asked her mentor.

"I already told you Shizune, I just want to stay here for the night. Besides, I have no reservations there." Tsunade responded from her desk.

Quite frankly, she was getting tired of Shizune's constant nagging that she should go out to someplace other than a bar. Granted, she couldn't enjoy herself the way she used to before she became Hokage, but she could at least knock back a few drinks outside of her office/prison.

"You're the Hokage. I'm sure they'd overlook your not having any reservations." Shizune insisted.

"Give it up Shizune-chan, she's not budging." Jiraiya climbed in through the window of the office, "Besides, it's a night for young love. Makes me nostalgic."

"How? You never had a lover…a consensual anyway…" Tsunade said while reading over some forms.

"Aww, and here I was about to take you two out for the night. I got a table at the restaurant, how about it?"

"No." Tsunade snapped.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune protested.

"You can go with him if you want. I'd just watch what goes in my drink is all."

"Ironically enough, she's the one that drugged ME." Jiraiya interjected.

"Look you two, I don't want to go to some fancy restaurant. I hate them. If I do go out I'm not going to dress up like a clown just have my ass kissed by more people. I want to go someplace where they treat you like a real person. If you can find that, then I'm game."

"You are no fun Hime." Jiraiya pouted, "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you I'm leaving to check on the rumors about Rice Country."

"You really think he's still alive?" Tsunade asked her old teammate.

"You didn't see him Tsunade. With that Sharingan he truly looked like a man possessed. I'm sure he didn't jump into battle without having an escape route."

"How are the twins doing?" Tsunade asked both of the shinobi in the room.

"Naruto has quite the arsenal of ninjutsu under his belt, but is a master of nothing but the Rasengan. As far as his sage training is concerned he's a natural. Still can't bond with Ma and Pa cause of the fox, but I don't see that slowing him down any." Jiraiya boasted about his Godson, "Not only that but the boy's resourceful…just weapons retarded is all."

"And Ino?" The Hokage looked to Shizune.

"She's progressing along great. She has a knack for poisons and her medical jutsu is passable. I mean her chakra control isn't as good as…others." Shizune paused as she thought of how talented Sakura was as a medic, "But she's quite a well-rounded shinobi. I have her sparring with Tenten to help her with her swordsmanship. She truly is amazing."

Tsunade nodded at the two before her. She was very pleased to hear her "grandkids" were doing so well. She wanted to do more for them, but as of right now she had to watch them from the sidelines.

"Jounin level?" Tsunade asked.

"Hell no." Jiraiya said.

"Not quite yet." Shizune replied.

"They have talent for days Tsunade. There's no questioning that. But the two lack experience. I'd say they'd classify as Jounin in about two years time. Then they'll have the appropriate amount of experience. Agreed Shizune?" Jiraiya looked at the assistant.

"Agreed."

"Alright then. Jiraiya, you're free to go. I don't have to remind you to be careful. Those two need you to come back."

"You mean YOU need me to come back." Jiraiya said slyly with a wink.

"If I ever say that you have full permission to kill me because it's an imposter. Now go. And if I get another report about you peeping on women at the bath houses then I'm going to ban your smut from the village."

Jiraiya jumped out the window shouting, "love you too." Shizune closed the window behind him and was about to leave the office before Tsunade called for her.

"Shizune, I want Mitarashi Anko here first thing tomorrow morning. I have a mission for her."

* * *

"Naruto!" Ino called her brother from her room, "It's almost 8:30! Hurry up and change so you won't be late!"

Temari sat on Ino's bed as she tried to balance a kunai on her index finger. She was bummed out because Gaara just told her they would be leaving for Suna by midnight. The eldest of the Suna trio wanted to stay in Konoha for another day or so, but once the Kazekage made a decision it was damn near impossible to change his mind.

"Is he always like this? He takes longer to change clothes than any girl I've known." Temari asked in a bored voice.

Ino laughed as she polished her wakizashis.

"Only when he's going some place with Hyuuga Hinata…HE NEVER GET'S DRESSED LIKE THIS WHEN HE'S GOING SOME PLACE WITH ME!" She shouted towards her brother's room.

"CAUSE IT DOESN'T TAKE MUCH FOR ME TO LOOK BETTER THAN YOU!" Naruto called from his closed room door.

"So that's why Jammer always wants to go on missions with you?" Temari asked with a smile on her face, "Ino, I think your brother is trying to steal your man."

"Aww shut up Temari. You're lucky I can't think of anything to say about your boyfriend cause we all know he's too lazy to cheat on you." Jammer stated as he walked into Ino's room with two shot glasses in his hand.

"Naruto can have Jammer as long as I get Hinata. I'd tear that ass up." Ino said calmly as she took a glass from Jammer.

"Careful now Ino, I think Kiba made a mess in his pants." Temari laughed.

Kiba poked his head through the door with two tissues in his nose.

"Fuck you Temari." Was all the boy said before going back into the kitchen.

The group laughed at the Inuzuka and went on to talking about what they were going to do that night. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door.

"Kiba! You're still making a sandwich right?!" Ino shouted from her room as she took another shot.

"I got it!" Kiba shouted back.

Upon opening the door he nearly had another nosebleed upon seeing Hinata in all her glory. She saw the Kiba was staring at her and began to give a blush that matched the hue of her dress.

"Stop that Kiba-kun. You're making me blush…" Hinata spoke lightly.

"Who is it…Holy crap Hinata!" Ino exclaimed when she walked to the door, "Fishcake! You better hurry up before Kiba runs off with your girlfriend!"

Naruto finally opened his door and ran to the front door while fixing his black tie. He always remembered why he hated the black suit after he put it on. Matter of fact, when Ino took him shopping for this particular suit she said she would not have her twin looking like a vagabond. After much arguing over the color, they finally agreed he get the black suit. It took a lot of death threats from Ino before Naruto gave up on having the orange shirt under the jacket and got white instead. As much as Naruto did hate the suit he had to admit he looked good. He was indeed anxious to see what Hinata had on tonight but he was far from prepared to see her. The blonde's jaw dropped when he laid eyes on his date for the night.

"Whoa…" Naruto exhaled.

By now, Hinata's face looked as though it was about to leak blood from her ears. If she was able to make Naruto AND Kiba speechless then she was sure her father would disown her if he saw her.

'_Ino…is it too much? Is it trashy?'_ Hinata thought to her friend.

Ino gave the girl a confident smile.

'_Hinata, you're beautiful. Now take Naruto by the hand and get going. He'll come to his senses eventually. Now get out of here before Ero-sennin comes here.'_ Ino thought as she lightly pushed her brother toward the door.

Hinata took Naruto's hand softly and led him away from the door. He followed obediently and silenty. Ino laughed at the couple leaving the door and walked back to her room, leaving Kiba at the door still.

"So? How was she?" Temari asked from her previous position.

"Amazing, as usual. Temari, it's nine. You better get going. Gaara said he wanted you at the Hokage's office at nine on the nose." Ino said as she sat back down next to Jammer.

"Right, I guess you're right." Temari sat up.

The group heard another knock at the door. Ino, Jammer and Temari looked to one another with a confused look on their faces.

"Kiba! If you're still fantasizing up there answer the door!" Ino shouted.

"I'm not a damn butler lady!" Kiba shouted back as he opened the door.

Again, he was unprepared to see the visitor of the night. Jammer's eyes shot open when he heard a familiar voice.

"Is Jammer-kun here?"

"Fuck." The ex-Kumo nin said under his breath.

"Is that…Itachi?" Ino whispered to her boyfriend.

On cue, the Uchiha stood in the doorway in his old Akatsuki robes. Temari stared at the missing nin in awe. She was amazed that he just came back to his old village so easily, without any second thought. It was as if he knew he could leave as easily as he came.

"Ah, Ino-chan is here as well. Did I miss Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked carelessly.

"Yeah…you just missed him." Jammer said as he stood up, "Why are you in Konoha?"

"To congratulate you all on Mirai. It's truly amazing." Itachi gave a weak smile, "Also to pass on some information regarding Kisame."

Ino and Jammer snapped to attention at the mention of the Sharkman that saved their lives during the mission in Amegakure. They hadn't heard anything about him since then and feared for the worst.

"What happened to him?" Kiba inquired, also dying to know.

"There was a sighting of Hoshigaki Kisame in Rice Country in the last few days. Seeing how he didn't come to the meeting spot we decided on after that fight at Ame, it's safe to say it's not the same Kisame we knew before. You should alert Naruto-kun on this since he is so quick to trust people."

"Rice? So what, he was brainwashed by Oto nins or something?" Temari asked.

"Honestly, I haven't the slightest idea. I don't doubt that he lost against Pein, but the fact that he was seen around Rice Country worries me seeing how Orochimaru was seen around there as well."

"Did he win?" Jammer asked the Uchiha.

"It's hard to say with your father. He's elusive to say the least. So, for your safety I'd stay away from Rice Country. Pein still wants the Kyuubi and he also wants you dead Jammer-kun. You betrayed him and he doesn't like betrayal one bit."

"And since he wants those two," Ino began, "that makes me an eventual target. Correct?"

"Very good, Ino-chan. Also, I have information regarding Akatsuki…but I want something from you." Itachi said ominously.

The teens looked back and forth to each other.

"Um…what?" Temari asked.

"Deidara-kun and I request membership to Mirai. It would be in both of our best interest. If we join Mirai then we can recruit more shinobi to join the cause. Also, we can give you information on the Akatsuki members we know are left. All we want in return is the destruction of Akatsuki."

"We'll have to talk it over with Gaara and Naruto. We can't go behind their backs on this." Ino immediately replied.

"Understood. I'll await your reply. Until then I must be going. I have a meeting of equal importance." Itachi bowed to the teens and left the room, "Contact Deidara with the answer. He knows where to find me."

With that, Uchiha Itachi left the Namikaze household. The remaining occupants of the house stood in shock as they digested the proposition the man just gave them. It was true that Itachi had nothing against them, but could they really trust him as a member of Mirai?

"I'm gonna…I'm gonna meet up with Gaara. I'll have him send a messenger hawk in the next few days with an answer." Temari said as she grabbed her fan and headed out the door.

"I'm gonna roll out too guys. I'll come back tomorrow for my hitai-ate. Peace." Kiba said as he left the house.

Ino and Jammer remained in their spots on the floor of her room. Jammer got up and went to the kitchen to bring back a bottle of sake.

"You gonna judge me?" He asked.

"Just shut up and pour." Ino replied as the two began to down the bottle.

* * *

Okay guys that's it for chapter 3. Don't worry I'm not going to scrap Naruto and Hinata's date, just saving it for chapter 4. No I'm not going to have Jiraiya marry Tsunade or anything like that, the "I love you" was just him being a smartass and no Jammer didn't "bone" Ino that was just Kiba being stupid. I'm trying to make them act more like actual people when they're not on missions. I think I explained Mirai pretty well so I won't have any more chapters focusing on the organization. Chapter 4 is gonna have my first actual conflict so that's something to look forward to. I decided I wanted Anko to play a small part in this story…it's gonna be awesome. Umm, fyi the wakizashi is a short sword like barely two feet in length (one of the two that Ino has, I believe I mentioned she has them from the first story). Anyway, thank you guys for the support and all. I'll update ASAP. Til then R&R or whatever. Peace.


	4. Chapter 4

Like I promised, chapter 4 will have some action finally. I've been wanting to just jump into the fights but I had to organize a bit of a plot first. Anywho, let's begin shall we? Starting where we left off with Ino and Jammer.

**Chapter 4**

"Don't you find it funny how we're both drinking this time?" Jammer asked Ino as she downed her fourth shot.

She simply grunted in response as she stared into space. She hadn't said a word to him since Itachi and the others left the house. Jammer already guessed she was thinking about the proposition Itachi gave them. He didn't think it was a bad idea himself, but it wasn't just his decision. They had to wait for Naruto and Gaara's okay.

"You know, you didn't even ask what it was you were drinking. Perhaps I put some date rape drug in it." Jammer joked.

"You're not that stupid." Ino said absent-mindedly.

Instead of waiting for him to pour her another helping she grabbed the bottle and took a gulp. Jammer's face was in awe at the scene before him.

"I ever tell you that you drink like a man?" The boy asked her.

"I ever tell you how annoying you are?" She fired back.

The two sat in another awkward silence after that. Jammer hated seeing Ino under so much pressure. He wanted to try to relax her somehow, but the girl didn't seem to want to be brought out of thought just yet. The boy checked the clock that was on Ino's purple colored nightstand.

"You know what we could do for fun?" Jammer asked again.

"We both better have our clothes on." Ino responded in an emotionless voice.

"Well you don't have to if you want. I'm thinking we could go out? That place that Ruto and Hinata went? It's only 9:30."

"We have no reservations."

"We're ninjas, woman! We can sneak in."

Ino stood up and walked to her closet. She pulled out her cloak and made for the door.

"Hold up. Where are you going?" Jammer called after her.

"I'm getting my brother. Something bad is coming. Why else would Itachi come all the way here himself?" Ino called back.

"Something bad? What you mean? Like a fight?" Jammer scrambled to his feet to meet Ino in her brother's room.

"Perhaps. Either way my brother's in trouble. I'm going to help him." She said as she grabbed a scroll from under Naruto's pillow, "If you want to help then go get the others."

"Others? Of Mirai, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

Ino walked past him without a second glance. Closing the door to the house, she began sprinting towards the restaurant. Ino had no idea what she was running so hard for, but she had a feeling that if she didn't run faster then something would happen to Naruto. And she'd rather die than have anything happen to her brother. She failed him during the fight with Danzo, but she was determined to never let that happen again.

Jammer watched in confusion as Ino ran toward the restaurant.

"She didn't even close the door behind her." He said to himself as he scratched his head, "I guess I'll get the oth-"

Jammer stopped in mid-sentence when he heard a faint whistling. He slowly closed the front door of the house as he tried to focus on where the sound was coming from. Once the door was closed he was able to hear the sound a bit more clear. Looking toward the kitchen, he could see that the kettle was not on the oven. The young shinobi shook his head and walked to the bathroom.

'_Ruto probably left the water on in the sink.'_ He thought to himself.

Even though his thoughts were calm, his outward actions were saying otherwise. He grabbed a kunai from the holster on his right leg and silently walked toward the bathroom. The boy approached the closed bathroom door, took a deep breath, and opened the door swiftly as he brandished the kunai in front of him. His eyes scanned the bathroom for any running water, but it didn't take him long to discover that there was none in the room. However, he did notice that the strange sound disappeared.

"Nothing. There's nothing here." He said aloud as he placed the kunai on the edge of the sink, "I'm just overly paranoid after Itachi showed up is all."

Jammer turned the sink on and splashed his face with water. As the cool water touched his face the whistling picked up again. But this time it was different. Jammer paused with his hands over his face, water dripping down freely.

'_It sounds like…hissing.' _The boy froze stiff.

At the thought of snakes in their home, Jammer grabbed the kunai with his right hand and spun around with the blade pointing out. The hissing stopped once again. He wasn't sure if it was the water or nervous sweat that made his face so damp, but his shirt was beginning to dampen as well. He ripped the shower curtains off their hinges with his free left hand and threw the kunai into the empty tub.

'_Calm down…just calm down.'_ He chanted in his head repeatedly, but it was doing nothing for his nerves.

The hissing began to resonate throughout the house now. Jammer's eyes darted all around the small bathroom as he looked for the source of the noise. His heart felt as though it was going to burst through his ribcage.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?" He shouted out.

The hissing stopped. Jammer fell onto his butt and put his hands over his head. The only thing he could hear now were his ragged breaths for air. His heart still racing as though he had just run a marathon in five minutes flat. He drummed his fingers on his braided hair as he tried to collect himself. The missing-nin stayed in this position (for what seemed like hours to him) until he felt calm enough to stand up.

He walked to the sink to turn off the sink he left on before his freak out. When he finally raised his head to look at the mirror above the sink he nearly vomited out of fear. The reflection in the mirror was partly his, but the right side of the face resembled that of his "father."

"Jammer." Orochimaru's side spoke calmly, "Give daddy a hug."

Jammer wasted no time in punching the mirror and running out of the house. Normally, he'd do something about his bleeding hand; but now was not the time to be concerned about the throbbing pain. He just knew he had to run. He didn't know where to, but running felt like the best option at the time.

* * *

"Then he started going on his rant about how I barely beat him at the first Chuunin Exams. I swear that guy holds grudges forever." Naruto laughed across from Hinata.

"Kiba does have issues in terms of forgiveness." Hinata laughed out.

Naruto stared at the girl in front of him in awe. The boy felt as though he was walking on air ever since the two had left for the restaurant. The whole night was just perfect. They arrived at the restaurant and were given amazing seats in a semi-secluded area at a table outside of the building. On such a nice night in Konoha like tonight, being outside felt amazing. Between the gentle warm breezes and his beautiful date, Naruto had to admit this was heaven on earth for him.

'_I gotta thank Ero-sennin for this later. I might have to call him Jiraiya-sensei for this one.'_ Naruto thought to himself.

He was brought out of thought when their waiter brought them their main dishes. After ten minutes worth of persuasion, Hinata got Naruto to order the lobster instead of the seafood ramen. The blonde was saddened by his decision, but once he laid eyes on the lobster in front of him his mood quickly turned around. Hinata saw the excitement in his eyes and couldn't help but giggle. Naruto wasted no time in taking a taste of the crustacean and began to make a face of pure joy.

"I take it you like the meal Namikaze-sama?" The waiter asked the boy.

"Like it?! I'd kill for this lobster!" Naruto shouted.

The waiter immediately jumped back from shock. Hinata began to outwardly laugh at her boyfriend's antics.

"Naruto, you really shouldn't say that. You kill people for a living. It'll make everyone uneasy if you just blurt out killing someone." Hinata tried to explain but wasn't getting through to the boy as he began demolishing the lobster.

The Hyuuga smiled to herself as she began to eat her pasta. She was about to say something, but her attention was shifted to the yelling inside of the restaurant. Naruto heard the commotion as well and looked to Hinata with a confused look.

"Think the chef's upset about something?" He asked the girl.

She shrugged her shoulders and focused chakra to her eyes. Once her Byakuugan was activated she scanned the restaurant for the source of the disruption. Her eyes widened when she found what didn't belong.

"Naruto. Akatsuki." She breathed out, "I only see one though. How didn't we notice him?"

Naruto immediately jumped up and ran for the nearest entrance to the restaurant. Hinata kicked off her shoes and followed after Naruto. The blonde looked back to her with stern blue eyes from the door.

"Stay out here. You'd be useless in there with me. Get all them out of here then wait for a moment to attack." Naruto said as he threw off his coat.

Hinata nodded and ran to the other tables surrounding their's. Naruto opened the door and ran in to see all the civilian patrons hiding under tables, using menus and chairs to shield them from the rogue shinobi standing in the center of the room. Said shinobi had his hand around a Konoha nin's neck, lifting him into the air. All Naruto could see was the enemies black and red cloud robes. Due to the straw hat on his head, the man's face was undetectable. However, it was obvious that he noticed Naruto was in the room because he dropped the Konoha nin to the ground.

The newly freed shinobi gasped for air as he rolled away from the Akatsuki nin. Naruto had never seen the Leaf nin before, and since he was in civilian clothes it was even harder for Naruto to identify him. Once their eyes locked the Konoha nin shouted to Naruto.

"Namikaze! Leave quickly! We'll distract hi-" He tried to shout but was interrupted when a kunai was lodged into his head.

Before Naruto could react, a large fireball was sailing from another end of the room toward the missing nin.

"Idiot! The civilians!" Naruto shouted over the screaming from the men and women ducking for cover.

The Namikaze heir made the ram sign and sent Kage Bunshins to all of the civilians to act as human shields. Naruto was expecting the Akatsuki nin to use a simple Kawarimi, but was surprised to see the nin take the attack head-on. The building soon filled with smoke after the attack hit. Instead of looking at the damage, Naruto had all his Bunshin take the civilians they were guarding to safety outside. The blonde then raised his left hand into the air and made a Rasengan. All the smoke in the room flowed into the swirling ball of chakra, turning the normally blue ball into a nasty black one. Naruto then released the Rasengan, making a small black cloud flow into the air once it was free from the vortex.

Once everything in the room was visible, Naruto saw the Akatsuki shinobi standing in the spot he was previously occupying. The main difference between before and now was that his hat was thrown off his head as a result from the impacting fireball. The Konoha nin that used Gōkakyū no Jutsu stood at the entrance of the restaurant and adjusted his sunglasses.

"Namikaze-san. You should leave immediately." The man stated as he stared at the missing nin in the middle of the room.

"Ebisu, what the fuck was that!? There were defenseless people in here!" Naruto shouted to the man.

"I knew you'd protect them so we didn't have anything to worry about, right?" Ebisu stated snottily.

"So you ARE Namikaze Naruto." The Akatsuki nin said, "Thank God. I thought you were just some other blonde, but after seeing you protect all those people there's not mistaking it."

Naruto shifted his attention to the original threat and stared at the gruff voiced, missing nin before him. He had cool blue eyes and slightly tanned skin. He had a black ponytail that traveled to the end of his neck and bushy black eyebrows. The man looked as though he was in his early thirties, and stood at about 6'2". He was indeed a bit intimidating, but now wasn't the time to be in fear.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners?" The man bowed to Naruto, "My name is Hessei Mushra. Forgive my lack of manners. Gosh, it's not every day you meet a Namikaze."

"Just what are you doing here?" Naruto spat out.

"Oh my, straight to the point. Well, I'm here to check out the sites. Konoha is an amazing little village compared to the rat holes I'm used to. I also had this secondary project of capturing you and extracting your demon, but I'll get around to it eventually." Mushra responded with a toothy smile.

At this time Ebisu decided to strike Mushra with an axe kick to the head while his back was turned to him. Mushra caught Ebisu's dropping leg with his right hand and sent a crushing palm strike to the Jounin's abdomen. Ebisu instantly fell to the ground unmoving. Naruto rushed toward Mushra and did a sweeping kick at the man's legs. Mushra simply skipped backward and began bouncing on the balls of his feet, prepared for the melee-fighting blonde. Naruto ran toward the man again. When he was directly in front of Mushra he jumped straight into the air, leaned back and pushed his legs forward, trying to catch the man in the jaw with his heels. The attack missed, but Naruto rebounded by landing on his hands and springing off of the ground. The Toad Sage in-training caught Mushra in the chest with the attack, pushing the missing nin back a few feet.

Naruto landed on the ball of his right foot and performed a spinning axe kick. Mushra saw the attack coming and jumped back to evade the attack. Naruto saw this and smiled.

"Katana Rasengan!" The blonde called out as he brought the kick down.

A thin blade of chakra sliced through the air and flew straight forward to Mushra, whom was unprepared for the ninjutsu completely. The attack caught him across the chest and he was propelled out the building, taking the brawl into the streets of Konoha. Mushra felt his chest to see a bloody gash going across from his right shoulder to his left hip. The nin looked up to see Naruto flying towards him with his left fist cocked back. Just before Naruto's fist connected with Mushra's face, Ino leapt through the air and tackled her brother to the ground. The two blondes rolled on the ground then jumped back up with their eyes on a smiling Mushra.

"Ino, what the hell?" Naruto questioned his sister.

"Don't touch his skin. I'm not sure why, Gaara just said to not touch it." Ino replied sternly.

Upon mentioning the Kazekage's name, two tendrils of sand wrapped around each of Mushra's hands. A third tendril wrapped around the man's waist, pinning him to the ground. Gaara jumped off from the top of the restaurant to in front of the blondes.

"Nice try, Mushra. I've been studying you for the past few weeks. Every shinobi that made skin contact with you has died. Care to explain how." Gaara demanded more than asked.

"The Ichibi too? Man this has got to be my lucky day. I take you two to Pein-sama and I'm sure to get a promotion of some sort." Mushra laughed out, "And Kazekage-sama, I'm flattered that you've done so much research on me. I tried so hard to stay under the radar too."

Gaara glared at the man and the sand tightened around his body.

"I don't like being ignored. Answer my question. Is it poison?" Gaara asked.

"Nope, just my Kekkei Genkai. It's a nasty little one it is. Took me years to get it under control."

"Kekkei Genkai or not, you're about to die so you may as well tell us what we want." Ino spoke up.

"Do you really believe you're safe here, Namikaze Naruto?" Mushra ignored Ino.

"What do you mean? I kicked your ass pretty easily. Pein can't be that much tougher, right?" Naruto said.

Mushra began to laugh at Naruto's words.

"I have a message for you Namikaze-san. We're not ready for you just yet. We need the other tailed beasts before extracting the Kyuubi, but once we are ready where do you think you'll be hiding? Konoha? You just saw how easy it was for me to lure you out. If I had a partner with me, you'd be as good as caught right now."

"So you suggest we run away from the sanctuary of Konohagakure? What sense does that make?" Ino questioned.

"Oh, it wouldn't be a problem for someone like you I guess. But for him," Mushra looked to Naruto, "He can't stand all those people dying in vain so that he'd live a little longer. Is that what you want Namikaze? You want them to end up like that Ebisu man I just killed? Effortlessly I may add."

Naruto looked as though he was just hit with a shovel. He was amazed that he ignored the fact that he was using Konoha as a shield. He was simply sacrificing all these ninja, his friends, as shields.

"Who's the next one to die because of you Namikaze? That Hyuuga girl? The Kazekage? Or perhaps your beautiful sister. I didn't think you could be so heartless." Mushra began shrieking with laughter.

Gaara heard enough at this point and covered the cackling man with sand. The Kage closed his hand and crushed Mushra's body. When the sand retreated back into the gourd it could be seen that the only thing in Mushra's place was a puddle of water.

"Dammit. He escaped." Gaara muttered to himself.

"If that was even him to begin with." Ino added.

Naruto shook his head and ran back to the inside of the restaurant to Ebisu's body. He saw Hinata was already there and the look on her face said it all. Ebisu was dead the moment he hit the ground. Naruto knelt next to the man and touched his face.

"His face is really dry." Naruto said aloud.

Ino crouched down next to her brother and stroked Ebisu's cheek. She felt the man's gritty face and brushed her hands off onto her pants.

"It's…dried skin. He's got a lot of dead skin on his face. Is it always like this?" Ino asked her brother.

"No, not tonight." Hinata spoke up, "He…was here on a date, right? He would've looked his best."

"So this Mushra guy can dry out people's bodies? Is that his Kekkei Genkai?" Ino asked the group.

"There has to be more to it than that." Gaara commented, "Where does the moisture go? Does he absorb it?"

"We can ponder over this more later. We have to talk to Tsunade-sama about this." Naruto said before he and the others made a silent prayer for Ebisu.

* * *

Tsunade's office was eerily quiet as Naruto paced through the room. Gaara stood by the window, staring at the stars while his friend walked a hole into the floor. Ino sat in a plush red chair across from Tsunade's desk. Her legs hanging over the left arm of the chair. Hinata sat in a similar chair to the left of Ino, her head turning to check on Naruto every ten seconds.

Tsunade told them to wait in her office as she went to chew out the guards of the village and find out what killed Ebisu. Naruto had been quiet ever since they arrived at the Hokage's tower, and it didn't seem like he wanted to talk for quite some time. Ino sighed and decided to start the impending conversation.

"You think leaving Konoha will help any?" She asked her brother.

"You know that's what I'm thinking. What do you think Gaara?" Naruto stopped pacing and looked to his friend.

"That decision is only yours to make Naruto. Akatsuki could just use Konoha as ransom until you return from hiding. You saw how easily they could get into the village." Gaara replied, not removing his eyes from the stars.

"But…what of Mirai?" Hinata spoke up.

"We'll just all have to leave together. Mobilize the militia and move out." Ino responded.

"We can't do that. Akatsuki wants the Jinchuuriki. They said they couldn't extract the Kyuubi til they get all of the others. We should just hide Gaara." Naruto said.

"We're already hiding a Jinchuuriki." Gaara pointed out, "There are two ways we can stop this Naruto."

"Oh no. We said we're not resorting to that. We all agreed." Ino jumped up from her chair.

"Plan B would solve this whole issue with Akatsuki, Ino. It's also a lot quicker than finding Pein and killing him." Naruto shot at his sister.

"Wait…what's plan B?" Hinata asked hesitantly.

Naruto looked away from the girl. They never talked about plan B for a reason. Like Ino implied, it was an awful plan…but it was still a logical plan.

"Plan B," Gaara began, "Is killing one of the Jinchuuriki. That plan makes even more sense than it did before seeing how they can't get Naruto until they get the rest of us. I volunteered but-"

"I told you that you can't. You're the Kazekage. I should be the one. We can't just ask another person to die so we can keep living." Naruto spoke loudly.

"You're not dying either way." Ino said, "You see Hinata, this argument is what made Mirai in the first place. If it wasn't for my stubbornness then these two idiots would be dead."

"Who thought of this idea?" Hinata asked.

"Shikamaru." They all replied simultaneously.

They stopped the conversation when they heard yelling outside of the door. One voice obviously belonged to Tsunade, but the second was a new one.

"I don't give a damn! I told you I have too much to deal with than a crazy shinobi! Akatsuki waltzes in, kills my shinobi and then walks out like nothing happened!" Tsunade shouted.  
"I have stuff to do too! I'm not babysitting him!" The voice shouted back.

"He's under YOU'RE care Anko! YOU look after YOU'RE brother!"

"He clearly stated that he didn't want to deal with me! He won't talk to me if we tortured him. He's always been like this, even when he was little." Anko shouted back.

"This is an order Mitarashi. You find him and sort him out. If I get another report about a crazy shinobi running around the village and it's him, I'm going to kick him out of the village. I know you care about him, right?"

"…"

"Fine! Don't do anything. You can explain to the Namikazes and Jiraiya what happened to him."

Tsunade kicked the door to her office open, leaving Anko staring at her blankly in the hallway. Tsunade walked past the teens and went straight to her chair behind the desk.

"Gaara, you were right. It seems that our friend, Mushra, can drain liquid from a person's body upon skin contact. Upon Ebisu's autopsy we were…amazed at the damage. Dried blood on the inside of his body and the organs were just a mess. Now we just have to figure out if the moisture was absorbed or burned out." Tsunade plopped her forehead onto the desk, "Gaara, you and your sister will be taking a few shinobi as escorts to Sunagakure. You want Mirai or Konoha?"

"Mirai. I already sent Temari to retrieve Team Gai." Gaara replied, "As a matter of fact, they're at the village gates right now. Anything you want to tell me?"

"Other than be careful, no." Tsunade said while resting her head.

Gaara nodded to the group and left the room.

"Hinata, you and Naruto did excellent work. Thank you for saving the villagers. As for you Hinata, Hiashi isn't liking your moving to Mirai very much at all. Just a warning to you when you go home. If you don't have any questions, I'd like to talk to the twins."

"No Hokage-sama. I'll…just be going then." Hinata walked to Naruto and kissed him on the cheek, "It'll be okay. I promise."

"You sound like me." Naruto gave her a weak smile.

Hinata returned the smile and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Jiraiya left for recon on Otogakure. He told me to tell Naruto to continue his combination jutsus with the toads. You are both to train together as well. He said don't separate from each other for missions anymore. Secondly, Jammer is running around the village in frenzy. I sent Anko to calm him down so don't worry about it."

"Why Anko?" Naruto asked.

"If you don't know then you should ask Jammer about it when you see him next. Now, what are you two thinking?"

"We should leave." Ino spoke up.

"Not we. I should leave." Naruto snapped.

"Didn't you hear Oji-san's message? We're stuck together."

"I don't care what he said. They're after me, not you."

"Itachi said they're after me too. I'm a target."

"…When did you talk to Itachi?" Naruto stared at his sister blankly.

"Itachi was in the village too?! What the hell are those lazy guards doing?" Tsunade punched her desk, cracking it down the middle.

"Wow, only a crack? Your self control is truly amazing Tsunade-sama." Ino complimented the Hokage in a poor attempt to change the subject.

Tsunade and Naruto simply glared at the girl and she caved.

"He came to the house after you and Hinata left. He wants to help us destroy Akatsuki. He has information on them that he'll give to us if he's allowed to join Mirai." Ino said calmly.

"Absolutely." Naruto said.

"Not." Tsunade added, "Or have you two not had enough betrayal from Uchiha?"

"Mirai isn't a part of Konohagakure. That's our decision to make." Naruto said staring at Tsunade.

"Okay, fine. If you take Itachi then our agreement is void. You'll have to leave Konoha." Tsunade glared at Naruto.

"Works out fine to me." Naruto snapped back.

"Both of you! Calm down a bit. Tonight's been a mess and tensions are high. Let's just call it a night. We can continue this conversation tomorrow or something. 'Kay?" Ino compromised quickly as she pushed her brother toward the door.

"Fine, you two get some rest." Tsunade stood from her seat, "I think I'll get some sleep too."

"Night Obaa-chan." Ino called out as she dragged her brother to the outside of the tower.

* * *

So that's it for this chapter. Tensions are high indeed. I know what you're thinking, 'Is he gonna kill Jiraiya?' Honestly, I don't know. I may just flip a coin. Heads he dies, tails he lives. Yes, Naruto did indeed get a good hit on Mushra (whom is mine btw. Stole the name from Shinzo though) but the last hit that Ino stopped him from making pretty much saved him from what happened to Ebisu. Next chapter we find out what Hanabi's plan for Mirai's expansion is, Konohamaru learns of his sensei's death, Naruto contemplates leaving Konoha, Jammer suffers a mental breakdown aaaaaaaaaaand I'm not sure what else. We may check out how everyone is doing in Suna, but it's gonna be primarily on Team Jiraiya. Thanks for the love on the story guys. I had to disable my anonymous reviews cause of some…people, but I'm gonna enable it after this chapter. I don't want the relationships in story (like the dating) to overshadow the story itself, but it's still nice to hear how everyone likes the relationships. My favorite is GaaraxYugito cause I based them on myself to some extent. Okay, enough ranting. Keep an eye out for the next chapter. R&R or whatever. Peace!


	5. Chapter 5

Um Anko is 7 years older than Team Gai and Jammer and 8 years older than everyone else. Ages again was Team Gai and Jammer are 18, everyone else is 17 Chapter 5 go!

**Chapter 5**

Jammer sat on top of the Hokage monument with bloodshot eyes gazing at the sun rising on the horizon. He could feel the cool morning breeze flowing through the holes in his black turtleneck shirt and the tears in his black cargo pants. Hugging his knees with his left arm while his right hand picked at his braided orange hair, all the while his eyes were darting left and right. They boy got no sleep what so ever. He spent the night running away from images of Orochimaru. He was sure he punched one of the images at some point, but he couldn't tell the difference between reality and his imagination anymore. The events from the previous night were still vague indeed. The last thing the boy remembered was how much Orochimaru hated the Third Hokage, so the most intelligent thing for him to do was sit on the man's head.

He winced when he felt a stinging pain in his hand.

"Oh yeah. I was bleeding." He spoke aloud as he examined his cut up right hand.

"You look like shit." A voice called from behind him.

Jammer jumped up immediately and glared at the visitor. His exhausted body nearly collapsed from the sudden movement but he kept his composure. His sleep-depraved eyes narrowed on the woman before him. Probably the last person he wanted to see in the entire village. The Snake Mistress, Mitarashi Anko.

"They sent YOU?!" Jammer exclaimed, "Ah! Just…Dammit! Why me, God? Why HER!?"

Anko watched the boy's antics as she crossed her arms. A light breeze blew past her, ruffling the trench coat behind her. She couldn't say she wanted to be here with the boy. All he did was remind her of Orochimaru. She shook her head and unfolded her arms, showing a stick of dango in each hand. Jammer stopped his rant when he saw the food.

"Peace offering. I know you like dango. You always did mimic me." Anko said as she walked to the boy.

"As if. I just so happen to like one thing in common with you." He responded as he took a stick.

"Let's not forget liquor." She smiled to herself as she ate a ball.

"Yeah…"

"And blondes." Anko laughed, "And also, I don't recall you thanking me for helping you get into this village."

"Cause you didn't do shit." Jammer replied as he munched on the food, "It was all Jiraiya-sensei and the Namikazes. I ain't here your name at any time. Not that I was hoping to."

Anko sat down and looked at the village. She patted a spot on the ground to her left, signaling for Jammer to sit next to her. The boy plopped down about five feet from her.

"I DID do shit. First off, I made sure they didn't kill you when you were captured by ANBU coming from Kumo. I also persuaded Ibiki to talk to you. We both know you wouldn't have said anything to me if I questioned you." Anko spoke without taking her eyes off the sunrise.

"Oh…well thank you."

"THEN I made sure they didn't kill you and your retarded friend Deidara when you came into Konoha. I'm sure you thought Deidara was just that menacing that no one would attack you?" Anko laughed.

"Well…Akatsuki is pretty scary." Jammer muttered.

"Oh, and guess who was on the search team with Hatake Kakashi when Akatsuki took you after the failed mission at Kumogakure?"

"I guess that makes up for you leaving me?"

Anko flicked her bare stick off the monument and watched it spin toward the ground.

"I didn't leave you. I left him…there was no way for me to take you with me. I would've if I could."

"Yeah, well guess who got to be used as a damn sleeper agent while you got away? You knew exactly how much I didn't like him."

"I'm sorry okay?" Anko stood up, "But I've been risking my neck to keep you here so that should somewhat make up for what happened. Besides, you weren't with him the whole time. You had Marcia."

"Marcia!?" Jammer jumped up, "You think that pathetic bitch was a good substitute for you? And I was stuck with damn Orochimaru til I was ten. After that I stayed in Kumo, but whenever Marcia had to see Orochimaru, I was brought along."

"Stop crying about it Jammer. We all had hard times. Barely anyone here trusts me. I'm a fucking pariah because of him." Anko took a deep breath, "Anyway, I was sent to calm you down. The Hokage said if you don't chill out then she's kicking you out of the village. Also said something about you using snakes-"

"I didn't use any fucking snakes!" Jammer shouted at her, "It was him! He did it!"

"Him who Jammer? You were the only person there. You attacked a few Konoha shinobi as well. Now we kept your relationship with Orochimaru a secret so far, but what do you expect us to do with you using snake based jutsus?"

"I didn't…It was…" Jammer fell to his knees, "I keep seeing him! Everywhere! I hear him, I see him and I don't know what the fuck is real. I thought he was dead for crying out loud! You think it's a fail-safe or something? Like if he did die then he takes my body?"

"What do you mean? What all did he do to you?" Anko asked sternly.

"Anko! I don't know! Him and Kabuto would use jutsu after fucking jutsu. I don't know what all I did or what I'm capable of doing! Why did you leave?" Jammer began crying.

"Stop that! You're eighteen years old. No crying." She looked away from the boy.

"I don't give a fuck what you say. I'm not even sure how old I am. I don't know my birthday or anything. And I can't be around everyone when we're planning missions cause I don't know if they can still do that jutsu that makes me tell them everything." Jammer hunched over with his hands on his head.

"Dammit." Anko muttered under her breath.

She bent down and rubbed the boy's back. She knew Orochimaru was using him, but she had no idea he was actually manipulated so much.

"It's okay. It'll be alright." Anko softly spoke as she rubbed his back, "Cause next time you see him you'll have Anko-neechan with you."

"Re…really?" Jammer asked in a pathetic voice.

"Yes. Cause he's still alive. Just trust me on that." Anko thought for a moment, "Jammer, did he give you a cursed seal?"

The boy merely shook his head. He then hugged the unprepared kunoichi around the waist. She could do nothing but allow him to. It was the least she could do.

"Don't tell anyone about this?" Jammer asked her.

"You'd be dead before you got the sentence out." Anko replied lightly, "Now enough of this. I gotta fill you in on what happened last night. Afterwards, we'll go to Namikaze Ino to help find out what's in your head."

"Why her?"

"Cause I'm sure the Namikazes won't judge you. Besides, we can tell them everything we know. While we're there, I'd love to fill out an application to Mirai."

* * *

Naruto and Ino stared at their friend's pathetic shape. They had just awoken when they heard the knocking at the door. Naruto was shocked to see not only Jammer, but Mitarashi Anko as well. The Namikazes knew there was a story behind Jammer's chaperone so they made for the small table in the living room. Naruto then attempted to make small talk with his company while Ino began making tea. The male Namikaze didn't know how or where to begin.

"So…how are you?" Naruto asked his friend.

Jammer smiled at his friend's weak question. He couldn't blame the blonde for being a bit intimidated seeing how Anko doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to looking after Chuunin.

"I feel like shit Naruto. How was the non-combat part of your date last night?" Jammer asked.

"Awesome! They have the GREATEST lobster there! I wanna go back and get more, but the place is closed down cause of the damage." Naruto smiled to himself, "We could've used you last night. What happened?"

"And a better question," Ino began as she poured four cups of tea in the small kitchen, "Why is Anko here?"

"Just Anko?" Anko sneered, "What's with the lack of respect?"

"My house, my rules." Ino stated sternly as she passed the cups around before sitting next to her brother.

"Hm, can't argue there." Anko took a sip of her tea, "By the way Jammer, I see why you like it here so much. She got anything on under that shirt?"

Ino began choking on her tea when Anko asked her question. Jammer began laughing and Naruto stepped in for his sister.

"Well it is a bit early Anko-san." Naruto defended, "We just woke up a few minutes ago."

Ino's face was turning red by the second as she realized she was still in her pajamas. Granted they did just wake up, but she was so relieved to hear that Jammer was okay that she ignored the fact that all she had on was an oversized shirt that went to her knees and some panties underneath. She hated how her brother looked so much more presentable than she did in his black sweat pants and black tank. She was sure Anko would never let her live this down.

"Wait a second, you have no right to talk about what I'm wearing with your tits bouncing around in that mesh shirt!" Ino exclaimed, "A bra would be nice ya know."

"Psh, you kidding Ino? Anko-neechan always hated bras." Jammer snorted.

"Neechan!?" The Namikazes shouted.

"I don't see what's so great about bras anyway. If you wanna stare at my boobs then go for it. You're eighteen, right Namikaze-san?" Anko asked Naruto as she adjusted her jacket so that her chest was more visible.

Naruto's eyes grew wide as a small trail of blood flowed from his nose. Ino immediately covered his eyes.

"PUT THOSE THINGS AWAY YOU COW!" Ino shouted at Anko.

"Ahem." Jammer cleared his throat loudly, "Can we please focus? We were going to tell you guys something important."

The twins heard the seriousness in their friend's voice and recomposed themselves.

"I'll tell them kid, you get to sleep. Everything will make sense to them in a moment." Anko waved for Jammer to go away.

"Jammer, you can use my bed. Get some rest man." Naruto offered.

Jammer grunted and left for Naruto's room, leaving the Namikazes with Anko.

"Okay guys. This is a secret that the Hokage doesn't even know fully so don't go blabbing to the rest of the people in your little cult." Anko gave them a stern look.

Ino merely rolled her eyes while Naruto gave a sharp nod.

"As you both know, I left with Orochimaru years ago. While I was with him he conducted many experiments. Many of which I wasn't completely aware of. Jammer's one of those experiments. Jammer was initially created about five years prior to Orochimaru and mine's departure. He was made with the genes of Yotchi Marcia and Orochimaru himself. Marcia was charged with taking care of him until he was a suitable age to travel with Orochimaru.

"When Orochimaru and I left Konoha, our first stop was Kumogakure so that we could pick up a five year old Jammer. Since the kid was treated like shit by the bitch Marcia, he had some trust issues. Orochimaru put me in charge of looking after the runt and making sure he didn't kill himself. The kid stuck with me everywhere we went so after a while I thought of him like a little brother. Since he was pretty much shunned all the time when he was with Marcia, he didn't know when his birthday was. I took pity on him and decided to make his birthday the same as mine. Ever since then he mimicked me nonstop. We were inseparable for the three years I was traveling with Orochimaru. But…I guess the snake bastard didn't like us getting along so well."

Anko took a pause as she stared into her empty cup. Naruto and Ino gave her a sympathetic look. They never knew that Anko had such a soft side.

"Anko…you don't have to continue if it's too hard for you." Naruto spoke softly.

Anko looked at the blondes with a questioning look.

"Actually, I was wondering if you had anything stronger? Cause I've been up for a few hours and I never got to hit the bars like I wanted to last night." Anko pleaded.

"You're a drunk just like the other idiot!" Ino shouted.

"I'm not a drunk, I'm completely sober right now." Anko stated calmly, "Fine, I'll just finish the damn story. When Jammer turned eight and I fifteen, he was sent to another facility for what I guess was testing. It wasn't my place to ask what was happening to him. Either way, Orochimaru had plans for me. That's when he put the cursed seal on me. The pale-skinned douche asked me if I wanted to join him and I told him no. It wasn't until after he left that I realized I left Jammer with they psychopath."

"So you're saying that Jammer actually has Orochimaru's DNA? Like he's his biological son?" Ino questioned.

"He wasn't made like us, but he is indeed the bastard's son. We should all praise whatever God we believe in that he got his mother's looks." Anko shook her head, "Orochimaru supposedly did a lot of experiments on Jammer after I left. I'm not sure everything he did to him, but last night Jammer thought he saw Orochimaru everywhere he went. In short, he had a breakdown. That's where you come in Ino."

"Let me guess," Ino crossed her arms, "You want me to dig around in his head to find out what happened."

"No Princess, I want you to check and see if there are anymore of those mental jutsus placed in his head. As far as the information that Jammer keeps in his head, you'll have to ask him about that. I'm sure he doesn't want you to know that much." Anko stood up, "So? Can I join the club?"

Naruto stayed seated and thought to himself for a moment. He knew that if Anko did join Mirai, it'd be violating their contract with Konoha. The boy thought for a few seconds until he came up with an idea.

"Yeah, you can join. But you're not gonna be on missions with us. Interested?" Naruto asked her.

"Ah, so you want a spy in Konoha. Why not ask Kakashi for this?" Anko inquired.

"Because he's too loyal to Konoha. Not saying you're not. It's just that from what you told me, you're a lot more loyal to Jammer than Konoha." Naruto smiled at her.

"Fine. I expect my cool hitai-ate within the day." Anko walked toward the door, "And Namikaze."

Naruto and Ino stared at the woman. Her face was looked amazingly relaxed and thankful. She smiled at the two of them with a light smile.

"Thank you for looking after him." She said before closing the door behind her.

"Well that was bizarre." Ino said aloud before going to her room.

Naruto looked back to his sister.

"What're you gonna do today?" He asked her.

"The main thing is to examine Jammer's head, then we got training to do. Ero-sennin's orders. You?"

"I have to check on Hinata. Baa-chan said something about her dad being mad at her joining Mirai so I was gonna try to mediate."

Ino smirked and closed her door.

"You're just going to make things worse!" She called through the door.

"I'm not listening! Lalalalala." Naruto shouted back.

* * *

Naruto sped through the village as though he was on fire. Jumping from roof to roof he kept his eyes peeled for his main target. He tried to use the Kyuubi's chakra to enhance his sense of smell, but the scent of breakfast products were masking any human smell in the village.

'_Why can't people just not bathe at all?'_ He thought to himself, _'Then scents would be so much easier to find.'_

He paused on the top of a two-story building, his robes fluttering in the wind. He then closed his eyes and focused the demon chakra to his eyes. When he opened them his blue eyes became slits. The blonde looked all around him but couldn't find what he wanted.

"Dammit! What's the point of improved vision if I can't see through things!?" He shouted out as he stomped on the roof.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock when he noticed his foot went through the roof. He looked around for any witnesses, jumped off the roof and began running away on the ground. While he was running he kept looking behind him to see if anyone was chasing after him. Of course, he ran into someone as he was sprinting and the two fell to the ground.

"Crap! I'm so sorry!" Naruto picked himself up and went to tend to his victim.

"Gosh Naruto, why did you have to go and do that?!" The person asked.

Naruto laughed when he realized he ran into who he was looking for in the first place.

"Konohamaru! Man, I've been looking for you for hours. No one knew where you were!" He patted the boy on the back.

"Yeah, I'm here. What were you running from anyway? You piss off Ino again?"

"No. I was using the fox's chakra and forgot how easily aggravated I get when I'm using it. I kinda put a hole into a roof…" Naruto laughed at himself, "But more importantly, how are you doing?"

"Well, seeing how my sensei was killed because the village's defense is terrible…" Konohamaru stared at the ground.

"Ko, I'm sorry. I should've acted quicker, but I was digging for more answers."

"It's fine Naruto. I know you did all you could. I'm just mad that I couldn't be of some help myself. It's our fault in the first place. We were telling him to take that Chuunin out on a date for the longest time…guess we should've just kept to ourselves."

"Hey, don't say that. He saved a lot of those civilians by clearing out the building like that. Ebisu-san was a hero." Naruto tried to encourage the boy, "You need anything?"

"I…" Konohamaru paused as he looked for the words.

Naruto watched the boy's body language and began to worry. He was shaking out of anger and frustration. What worried Naruto even more was the look in Konohamaru's eyes. They resembled a young Sauske.

"I want to kill him. That's all I want Naruto. I just want to kill him." Konohamaru stared directly at Naruto, "You have to train me. I can do it I'm sure! I already got the Rasengan down. I can do this!"

Naruto glared at Konohamaru, making the younger boy nervous.

"Go home. Now. You're mother's worried sick." Naruto told the boy.

Konohamaru stared at Naruto in confusion. He didn't know what he did to make the blonde so angry, but he had never seen him like this before. Naruto looked as though he was trying to stop himself from beating Konohamaru within an inch of his life. The Sarutobi turned around and began running toward his home as he was told.

Naruto shook his head and began walking toward the Hyuuga compound. Anyone that walked near him gave him at least a meter of space for him to move due to the anger that was seething from him.

'_I wonder if I have fangs.'_ Naruto thought to himself absent-mindedly as he felt his lips for teeth, _'Cool, the fox's chakra is in check even when I'm this pissed off.'_

Naruto continued his journey to the Hyuuga compound and halted at the iron gates when he felt someone watching him. This was usually nothing new whenever he went to the compound, but he felt as though someone was watching him without the Byakuugan. As if they were in plain sight. He caught the scent of the spy and shook his head.

"Hanabi, where are you hiding and why aren't you in your house?" He asked aloud.

The young girl leapt out of a nearby bush with an annoyed look on her face. She was clad in white robes similar to Neji's, her hair tied in a ponytail.

"You cheated, you used the red chakra." She stated emotionlessly.

"It's a tool, I told you that. Now why aren't you in the compound? Your father hates it when you walk around the village." Naruto folded his arms.

"I'll have you know that I'm a Genin. Meaning I'm a full-fledged shinobi. I don't need my father's permission to go anywhere." She responded snottily.

"Sure. Where's your sister? I heard she got in a bit of trouble for Mirai, but she won't tell me the details."

"Oh, so now you need my information? It's not cheap Namikaze-san. I have a few demands in exchange." Hanabi crossed her arms and eyed Naruto.

"Yeah? What're your demands, Great One?"

"To stop being a smartass firstly. Secondly I want to talk to you about Mirai. I think you guys should expand."

"Go on…" Naruto insisted.

He didn't want to tell her he was thinking the same thing, but he really wanted to hear what ideas she had. One thing he knew was that their plan as of now wasn't working anymore. Not if Akatsuki was just invading Konoha at will.

"Well." Hanabi reached into her robes and pulled out a sheet of paper, "As you can see I made quite a few plans for our next move against Akatsuki."

"Our?" Naruto questioned.

"As we both know," She ignored his comment, "Staying in Konohagakure isn't working now that the enemy knows where we are. If the other villages were to discover we were linked to Konoha then they would say Konoha is trespassing on there territory. If this happened, then Konoha would be 'violating' the treaties that it made with the other villages and then that'd be a big mess. So, the best thing for us to do is cut all ties with Konoha. We should mobilize Mirai and become nomads in a sense. Similar to Akatsuki. We can make a new headquarters and send people out on missions to search for Akatsuki members."

Naruto nodded in understanding. He had to admit that the girl was thinking very clearly about this. Since the girl was around her father all the time it wasn't a large surprise that she would be familiar with treaties that Konoha has made with other villages. By far, she was the next best political advisor next to Gaara that he could think of.

"Good idea. I was thinki-" Naruto began.

"I'm not finished yet Namikaze-baka." Hanabi hit Naruto on the head with the rolled up paper, "As I was saying, we both know that we don't have enough man power to carry this out. So, we should recruit other shinobi from other villages to join Mirai. There are SOME good shinobi out there that think the same way that we do."

"So you're suggesting that we make a foreign legion. Right?" Naruto asked, "You forget that we don't really know anyone from other villages."

"YOU forget that you're the disciple of Jiraiya, one of the sennin. He has resources all over the continent. We also have Yotchi Jammer, who has traveled to many places himself. I'm sure we could make quite a formidable organization. With enough people, we could have people in stations around the continent. Akatsuki wouldn't be able to sneeze without us having someone on their backs. And what better place to have our base than in Wind Country? The desert is a natural defense, unlike Konoha only having lazy shinobi."

"Wow Hanabi. That…that can work. But you sure you just don't want to go to Sunagakure cause of your huge crush on Gaa-OW!" Naruto held onto his nose.

"I don't have a crush on ANYONE!" Hanabi shouted.

Naruto rolled around on the ground holding his nose. Hanabi cleared her throat, making the boy focus on her again.

"I suggest we mobilize soon. Father is planning on giving Hinata the seal…" Hanabi spoke softly, "It's a losing battle for Hinata. If she stays in Mirai, he's threatening to have the seal placed on her because she'd be a liability. If she gets the seal then…well it'd be a huge hindrance if Konoha had reason to chase after us."

Naruto stood up quickly and gave the Hyuuga a questioning look.

"ALL of Mirai has to leave Konoha. If any members stay they could be used against the rest of the group." Hanabi looked away from Naruto and began poking her index fingers together.

"How long does Hinata have?" Naruto asked the girl.

"Father will probably have the seal on her by tomorrow. Either that or disown her. She's gone through a huge personality change ever since she began dating you and hanging around Ino. Of course Father blames you."

"Then get packed up." Naruto told her.

"What?" Hanabi questioned.

"Get packed up. Mirai is going on a field trip tonight. Tell Hinata to be ready; I'll bail you two out. But you can't tell anyone you're coming along."

"Hai! You won't be disappointed Naruto!" Hanabi began bouncing up and down like the child she actually was.

"Emotions in check Hanabi. Now get going. I'll get here at ten. I'm going to need you to meet me here as soon as it turns ten o'clock. Okay?"

"Hai, Namikaze-sama." Hanabi ran toward her home to tell her sister the news.

Naruto watched her run off and made the ram seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He said as ten Naruto's popped into existence.

Without a word, the Naruto's nodded to each other and ran in different directions.

* * *

"Just clear your head already!"

"If you want me to clear my head then you should really consider covering up a bit!"

"I'm fully dressed!"

"Then clean up a bit! The sweat body is bordering on the line of sexy and I can't pay attention."

"You're insufferable!"

Ino and Jammer had been arguing ever since the boy had woken up from his sleep. After Naruto left the house that morning, Ino decided to go ahead and start her own training (because he was "being a butt" was her excuse). After she finished, she went to check on Jammer so she could examine his head. Unfortunately, she was "too sexy" for him to clear his head so she could so an adequate scan.

"Jammer, please try to focus for me? Please baby?" She pleaded.

"Then you call me baby? I'm telling you right now, if you went into my head you would probably hate me." Jammer insisted.

"I HATE YOU RIGHT NOW!" Ino took a deep breath, "Okay, you want me to change clothes? Will that help?"

"All I ask is that you cover up the incredibly attractive navel area. Why not throw on the cloak? That way I can't see any curves…beautiful curves…" Jammer eyes began to drift toward Ino's chest.

"Dammit you pervert!" She left the room.

When she came back, she saw that Jammer had changed into another pair of black cargo pants and a skintight black t-shirt. She returned in her white and purple cloak. She also had a bottle of rum in her hand, which Jammer immediately eyed. Ino plopped herself in front of Jammer.

"Ms. Namikaze? Trying to seduce me?" Jammer laughed.

"Shut up. Just drink this until you get nice and relaxed."

"But I haven't eaten anything but dango today. And it's only three o'clock in the afternoon."

"Sweety? Has that ever stopped you before?"

"…nooooo." Jammer said with a blush on his dark face.

"Ugh, why must I love the idiots?" Ino asked herself as she poured a glass for Jammer which he downed instantly.

After repeating this four times, Jammer finally quieted down. Ino thanked God that he was finally quiet and began sealing.

"Just relax, Jammer. This'll only take a second." She whispered to the boy as she finished sealing.

Her fingers were now glowing blue from the jutsu. She placed her hands on his head and felt herself dive into his mind. She saw a flurry of images. Some of her and Naruto, others of Orochimaru. Then there were some of people she never saw before. Ino tried to pump more chakra into the jutsu in order to slow the information appearing before her. She finally gained some control of the memories focused on the previous night when Jammer was running away from images of Orochimaru.

It was like watching a movie through Jammer's eyes. Every sound he heard, every sight he saw and every breath he took Ino could see and feel. She saw when she left him at the house (made a mental note to apologize for being so cold) and was able to see him running toward the bathroom. But, she heard no hissing what so ever. The whistling noise that was driving the boy insane was completely inaudible to the Namikaze. She saw when the boy stared into the mirror and punched it, but saw no image of Orochimaru, even though Jammer's frantic sprinting into the night meant he saw SOMETHING that frightened him.

What she did see was Jammer attacking Konoha shinobi throughout the night, screaming that they were Orochimaru. And at one point, the boy had snakes flowing from his arm that attacked one of the Konoha shinobi. After what seemed like hours of footage, Ino got to the point where Anko found Jammer. She released the boy's head at this point.

Jammer looked at Ino with a drunken smile. Ino wanted to hug the idiot, but he'd probably just fall over.

"Sho? How'sh my head?" Jammer slurred out.

"You did use a snake based jutsu. But I saw nothing that even resembled Orochimaru in your memories. On the upside, I couldn't find any leftover mental jutsu in there." She poked his forehead and smiled, "I say you were just tired from a lack of sleep. You should rest up and you'll be fine."

Jammer giggled like a three year-old and hugged the girl.

"I'm soooooo lucky to have you." He said.

"I know Jammer. And don't worry, I didn't see anything else." She said hugging him back.

"You two alright?" Naruto called from the door of the room, "I can come back if you'd like."

Ino released Jammer and stood up. She then slapped her brother over the head.

"You left without telling me anything you nerd. I had to train by myself." She pouted.

"Sorry, I had to find Konohamaru. Anyway, we're leaving tonight." Naruto said nonchalantly.

"What do you mean? We're seriously leaving the village?" Ino asked him.

"Just pack up. I'll explain to you while we get ready. I have a clone going to all Mirai members to tell them what's going on. We'll be leaving at ten."

* * *

Hinata stared at the clock in her room as she sat on the foot of her bed. Ever since Hanabi told her of Naruto's plan she'd been staring at every clock, waiting for ten o'clock to hit. She had packed and repacked her bag about five times, but she couldn't help but think she left something behind. The thoughts going through her head kept bouncing between how angry her father would be and how much she'd miss Hanabi.

Three minutes left. She stood up and began pacing along her bedside. She looked out the window of her room to see if she could spot the blonde shinobi.

'_How is Tsunade-sama going to take this?'_ She thought to herself, _'Does she even know?'_

Hinata looked to the clock again and saw that it was only a one minute left. She continued to look out the window, wondering what was keeping Naruto so long. Suddenly she heard multiple booms going off around outside. She immediately activated her Byakugan and searched through the estate to see Hyuuga shinobi running around outside. She opened her window to see small fires spreading through the village. She looked to the Hokage Monument to see the symbol for Mirai over the fourth Hokage's face in fire. She could see hundreds of Konoha shinobi running toward the fire's around the village. Looking back to her clock she saw the second hand land on the twelve, making it exactly ten o'clock on her clock.

"Let's go Hime. No one's putting that seal on you. Not if I can help it." Hinata heard Naruto's voice behind her.

Hinata turned to see Naruto in his black jumpsuit with orange going down the sides. His orange and black robe was covering his upper body and the large scrolls that were on his back. He saw the look of confusion in her eyes and smiled.

"We needed a distraction for this. The 'terrorist attacks' will make sure that no one will ever expect that we worked with Konoha. Don't worry. I asked dad about the fire in advanced. He said to go for it." Naruto grinned at the girl and stuck his hand out.

Hinata nodded and took his hand. The two jumped from the window onto the ground and began sprinting. Hinata simply followed Naruto because she figured he had a plan. The two just made it to the gates of the Hyuuga compound when rain began to fall.

"Jammer?" Hinata asked her boyfriend.

He simply nodded in confirmation as he looked around as though he was searching for someone. Before Hinata had a chance to ask they heard a voice to their left.

"What's the meaning of this Naruto? Defacing your own father's monument." Kakashi's questioned, "You know I can't let you go."

Naruto motioned to Hinata for her to get behind him. The blonde then smiled when an elderly brunette woman in white robes ran in between them, trying to find a place to hide. Naruto quickly grabbed the woman and put a kunai to her throat.

"Kakashi. I suggest you let us go. She's more important than you know." Naruto said as threatening as he could.

Hinata was shocked to see Naruto behaving like this, but she didn't question it. She was sure there was an explanation for all of this…somewhere.

"Naruto. Who-" Kakashi began.

"BACK OFF HATAKE!" Naruto shouted, "Hinata, let's go."

The two of them sprinted towards the gates of Konoha with their prisoner in hand. Kakashi watched as the two of them left and spotted a piece of paper where they were standing. Kakashi picked it up and began reading it. The veteran shinobi shook his head and began laughing.

'_Only you Naruto,' _He thought to himself, _'would do something so bizarre. Good luck.'_

* * *

Naruto and Hinata made it out of the village without any other problems. The two continued to sprint toward whatever destination that Naruto made for the group. After about ten minutes of running Naruto signaled for Hinata to halt. The two of them had stopped in a small clearing in the forest. Hinata honestly didn't know why they stopped in such an open area.

"Oy, drop it." Naruto called out.

Once the words were spoken, five tents were revealed as well as the other shinobi of Mirai (excluding the Suna shinobi).

"It's about time Naruto." Ino called to her brother from a tent, "Who's the old lady?"

Naruto simply flashed his infamous "pedo-grin" and began to laugh.

"Our political analyst." The boy laughed out.

The elder woman formed the ram seal and poofed. Out of the smoke emerged Hyuuga Hanabi with an incredible grin that rivaled Naruto's.

"Dear Lord." Ino said to herself as she crawled back into her tent.

"That is one badass Genin. I told you guys that before." Kiba called out.

"Another Genin, Naruto?" Tenten questioned, "Isn't Konohamaru enough?"

"Naruto! Are you serious?! Do you know how furious Hiashi-sama is going to be?!" Neji began to panic.

"Well, now we're officially not involved with Konohagakure…I'm sure they'll forgive us when we take down Akatsuki." Naruto looked around at his troops, "Hooray for motivation! Now I'll take first watch. Tomorrow we begin going toooooo…"

Naruto nudged Hanabi and she stepped in.

"We're going to Kirigakure. We all have masks and black cloaks that none of you are to remove until a senior officer says it's okay." The Genin stated.

"Senior officer, meaning the ones that saved the village from total annihilation a few months ago." Jammer called out, "Also known as Team Badass…and Kiba."

Naruto laughed and looked to Hinata who gave him the worst look of disgust he'd ever seen. The girl walked passed him and took her sister by the collar of her robes. The two disappeared into the same tent that Ino had gone into.

'_How mad is she Ino?' _Naruto asked his sister.

'_Sleep with one eye open Fishcake. You have to remember that you just brought her kid sister on a dangerous mission to track down serial killers.' _Ino answered.

'_Great. This is going to be one amazing road trip.'_

* * *

And that's it. Cool huh? Now after this shit goes down. And when I say shit goes down I mean Chouji ain't gonna be the only one to go. I know what you're thinking. "Oh he's probably gonna kill poor Tenten cause she's not a major character." We'll see. And next chapter we get to see how Gaara's going to take this sudden change in plans. We get to see what's goin on in Akatsuki and I'm not sure what else. OH! I almost forgot about Jiraiya…well til next chapter! Thanks for the love guys. This 6k chapter goes out to yall. Just don't expect my fingers to like you guys as much as I do. Typing non-stop is painful indeed. Specially when you type something and delete it a second later cause it doesn't work. Peace!


	6. Dear Gaara

**Konohagakure**

Jiraiya sat on the windowsill of the Hokage's office, his legs hanging on the outside of the building. He relaxed as he gazed at the sun beginning to set along the horizon. The temperature was just perfect to the man. Warm winter weather with the occasional cool breezes. True, there were no swimsuits during the winter; but he had to admit it was just as pleasant. The elderly ninja looked over his shoulder when he heard the Hokage drumming her fingers on her desk.

"It's been two months, Jiraiya. Two, LONG, and agonizing months. Where the hell have you been and where are those kids?" Tsunade shouted at the Toad Sage from her desk.

"I'VE been very busy these past few weeks. Had to do some research on Akatsuki." Jiraiya said as he climbed through the window he was sitting on, "Apparently there have been even more sightings of Orochimaru. Unfortunately, I haven't seen him for myself yet."

Tsunade grunted and rested her forehead on her desk. Jiraiya stared at her curiously and leaned against the windowsill. The Hokage let out an aggravated yell and slammed her desk with her palms.

"Well, seems someone's having a minor breakdown." Jiraiya snickered to himself, "Can't track the kids down?"

"Don't give me that crap." Tsunade shot at him, "We found the members of Mirai multiple times in the last few weeks. We even got a damn picture of them all posing in front of some statue in Iwagakure! They're teasing me, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya began nodding his head.

"Have you tri-"

"I've tried everything! They're playing with me, I'm sure of it. Every shinobi I've sent to capture them have had the assignment to kill them if they resist. And every shinobi I sent has come back to me in one piece. Those brats don't even have the respect to kill those that want to kill THEM!" Tsunade took a deep breath and began massaging her temples, "They have three Hyuugas, a strategic genius, an Inuzuka's nose, and a jutsu that can cover their tracks."

"Don't forget," Jiraiya chimed in, "a telepath and the backing of the Kazekage. I can see your frustration, but be honest. You miss them."

"How I long to have my hands around their little blonde necks." Tsunade smiled to herself, "I tried to talk with Gaara, but he told me that they're not in Sunagakure. He promised he wouldn't aid any fugitives of Konoha."

"And of course you think he's lying."

"Of course I think he's lying. He's their best friend and a member of the group. Anyway, I need you to stay here for a while. I don't want other villages thinking we're pushovers cause we're missing some of our top future shinobis." Tsunade stood from her chair and made her way for the door, "If you need anything ask Shizune. She has free time seeing how her apprentice is MIA."

With that, Tsunade left the office. Jiraiya looked out the window and stared at the sunset. A cool December breeze brushed against his face and he smiled to himself. He was incredibly livid with the Namikazes for running away, but it was in their blood to ignore him…repeatedly. In a way, he was happy Minato and Kushina weren't in the same village as their children.

'_It'd be the most adorable/hyperactive/hot tempered family in the continent.'_

* * *

**Sunagakure**

"Kazekage-sama, are you positive you don't have any idea where the members of Mirai can be?"

"I told you, Kakashi, and the village of Konohagakure six times now," Gaara began from his desk with a bored voice, "The shinobi in the renegade group, Mirai, are not in Sunagakure. Therefore, I have no idea where they can possibly be."

"You can understand our skepticism." Kakashi sat in the chair opposite of Gaara's desk.

"Kakashi Hatake," Gaara rose from his seat, "Are you calling me a liar?"

Gaara sent a glare to Kakashi that made the elder shinobi a bit uneasy. This was the reason he hated being the diplomat, but Tsunade wanted someone Gaara was comfortable with to ask him about Mirai.

'_Damn, forgot that was one of his buttons.' _Kakashi thought to himself.

"No, Kazekage-sama." He responded, "But I am calling you a ninja. And despite your age, an experienced ninja at that."

Gaara smirked at Kakashi after his carefully picked words. Most people would just apologize profusely after he accused them of calling him a liar. He had almost forgotten what it was like to have an intelligent opponent.

"Besides," Kakashi continued, "this office reeks of Naruto."

"Nice try, but it just so happens that jinchurriki have very similar scents. You're probably getting mine confused with his." Gaara said as he walked towards the door of his office. "Now if that is all you came here for, I have much work to look over."

Kakashi remained at his seat as he looked at Gaara's stern face. He knew the Kazekage was tired of being asked questions regarding Mirai, but they all knew he had information on them. It was time for Konoha's trump card.

"You are aware that Sunagakure is still in debt to Konohagakure. It'd be in the village's best interest to tell us everything you know regarding Mirai. They have young shinobi as hostages and the Hyuuga clan wants their heiress back immediately."

Gaara stared at Kakashi for a brief moment then let out a sigh. The chair Kakashi was sitting in collapsed into sand and melded to the ground. The Konoha nin stood up quickly as to avoid falling to the ground.

"It seems the village has copied the stubbornness that its Kage portrays. I know nothing. That's the last time I'm going to talk about this. I'll have a room prepared for you seeing how it's so late." Gaara told him as he left the office himself.

Kakashi shook his head in frustration.

'_Great, I singlehandedly jeopardized the relationship between two villages with a conversation. And they wonder why I never wanted to be Hokage.' _He pouted in his head as he left the office and headed for the stairs.

As Kakashi was making his way to the ground floor, Gaara was walking up the stairs to the lookout balcony of the tower. Upon opening the door he saw Yugito sitting on the stone railing, staring at the moon. The Kage would never admit how beautiful the woman looked underneath the moonlight. The dye in her hair was starting to run out, resulting in a dirty blonde look which most of the male shinobi approved of. Especially when it was blowing in the wind like tonight. She was wearing her hitai-ate around her neck and kept tracing over the carvings of it with her left hand. What stood out most about her was the fact that her clothing was tattered and riddled with blood and holes. A sign that she just finished her training for the day. The once skintight dark blue shirt she wore was now stretched out around her neck, and she also had her left sleeve missing.

Gaara walked toward her spot on the railing and looked at the moon as well.

"Just makes you forget your troubles, huh?" The girl softly spoke.

"Used to send me into a blood thirsty rage." Gaara stated plainly.

She looked at him for a moment and rolled her eyes.

"My husband has such a way with words." She muttered to herself, "So, how was your impromptu meeting with Kakashi?"

"He thinks I know where they are. Then tried to pull a power move and threaten to make Suna pay for not cooperating. He's still quite skeptical."

Yugito jumped up and bounced to the other side of the balcony. Gaara could tell she wanted to play a game now, but he wasn't exactly in the play mood...ever.

"I got something you want." The girl teased.

"Will you just hand it over?" Which was the closest to begging Gaara would get.

"Nope, you gotta find it." She said as she jumped onto the railing behind her, "I have it, but you gotta guess where."

"Robyn, I am not in the mood for this."

"Come ooooon." She pouted, "What if I told you it was from Sari? The cute Chuunin that volunteers at the library?"

"…It's from him, isn't it?"

"From who? Hmmm." She put her hand over her chin as if in deep thought, "OH! You mean Foxy? Maybe. But you have to find it."

At this point, Gaara wanted the letter. He knew she knew it. The two were in the middle of a stare down. Yugito's eyes turned into blue slits as Gaara's began to turn golden. In the past few weeks this was a way for them to tell each other "game on". The girl smiled and back flipped off the railing, narrowly dodging a tendril of sand that erupted from underneath her.

Yugito pumped chakra into her feet and began running down the sides of the tower. She looked behind her to see Gaara sprinting behind her. The ex-Kumo kunoichi was happy to see that the red head was actually running instead of using his sand as transportation. When the first meet there was no way he'd end up doing this. Yugito stuck her tongue out at the Kage and jumped to the ground of an empty street. She landed on all fours and began to prance away with a single blue tail following her.

The girl knew Gaara wouldn't be able to keep up with her using the Nibi's chakra by merely running, so she hid in a dark alley as to make sure he couldn't find her from the sky. Once she was settled in a spot she stopped using the demonic chakra and waited.

'_Shit!' _She thought to herself as hands made of sand spawned from the ground.

Before she could fight the sand, she found herself wrapped in a sand cocoon with only her face exposed. The cocoon levitated toward Gaara, whom was still standing on the side of the Kage tower. Once the two were face to face, the girl began laughing.

"Aren't you the lazy one today." She mocked him.

"I said I'd do more physical labor, but I'm not going to chase after a demon across my village." He stated in a bored tone.

"A pretty demon?" She asked with a cute face.

Gaara smirked at her.

"Just give me the letter."

"Kiss me first."

"I'm not going to do that."

"And why not? Are we…are we getting a divorce?"

"Stop being an ass and give me-"

"Kiss. First." She said sternly, "I'm defenseless. And it won't hurt your image any. I mean, you have your wife in a cocoon (that you use for killing people) and have her dangling in front of you on the side of the tow-"

Gaara kissed the girl lightly and flashed her a small smile. She gave him a questioning look as he waved the letter in his hand.

"You put sand down my shirt? You pervert."

"Get some rest. If Temari is still awake, tell her I'll be home shortly." He said as he released her from the sand.

Satisfied with their game, Yugito ran toward their home with no back talk. Gaara then made his way to the balcony again. He looked at the front of the letter and shook his head at how immature his friends were. They all wrote their personal hellos on the front of it. He opened the letter and began reading:

'Gaara! What's up?

We're all okay for the most part. Ino's finally accepting her role as a leader of the group. Everyone's working great together. Our tiny members are developing into quite the shinobi too. And even greater news, Hinata doesn't want to kill me for bringing her sister along anymore (still pissed though). Outrunning hunter nin is pretty much our enjoyment of the day. Anyway, sorry again for any trouble Baa-chan is giving you but this is for the best. We already split into two teams as to not draw as much attention to ourselves (Shikamaru's idea). The teams are gonna be me, Hanabi, and Team Gai. Ino and Shikamaru will be in charge of Jammer, Team 8, and Konohamaru. My team will be searching for Mushra, while the others are gonna search for a friend of Jammers. By the way, Jammer's condition is getting worse. The main reason for our split is because the hunters are chasing after me in particular, and Jammer just can't keep up anymore. Ino says its chakra exhaustion and lack of sleep cause every time he tries to sleep he sees Orochimaru. Also, I know you didn't like the idea, but Itachi is with Ino's group. We thought it would be a good idea, since Jammer's not at fighting power, they'll need someone extra in case they run into Akatsuki. Anyway, our intel tells us Mushra is at Kumogakure so that's where my team is headed. You'll probably get a message from Ino later (they're around Kiri right now) so be on the lookout for that. And lastly, we can't find Deidara anywhere. Naturally, Jammer is worried, so if there's anything you can dig up on that…Okay Kazekage-sama, that's my report. Lookin forward to seeing you out here. We won't be going for Kumo for another four days so if you wanna try to send Kankuro or Temari to help out that'd be great. No one on my team is familiar with Kumo's layout.

Sincerely,

Not allowed to say'

Gaara shook his head again. He then tossed the paper into his gourd and ground it up so it wouldn't be seen again. Heading back to his office with a new mission. He had to get reinforcements to Kumogakure.

* * *

I cannot say how sorry I am for the hiatus. Seriously, that was a huge mistake. I was always meaning to make the new chapter but…idk. Physical writers block? Whatever. I'll have a chapter for Mirai next time. Won't take as long as this one. On the upside, everything I have planned is coming together. The next two chapters I suggest you pay attention to the little things. I pretty much dropped hints on who's gonna go bye bye and who's plotting against who. Til next time! R&R or whatever.


	7. Chapter 7

**Team Ino**

Ino was tired. There was no easy way to put it. She was tired of the lack of hot showers, tired of dealing with her schizophrenic boyfriend, tired of the nuke nin with the red eyes, and especially tired of the little brown haired brat that kept complaining about guard duty. Her eyes were bloodshot due to her non-existent sleeping patterns, as well as her constant chakra sweeps of the surrounding. Of course that's what Hinata was for, but the young Namikaze always believed that if you want something done you should do it yourself.

Looking up into the night sky, she realized that there was not a single cloud above her. A small part of her remembered how she and Jammer used to sit on the roof of the Namikaze house and stargaze. Unfortunately, that nostalgic side of her reminded her of the fact that the boy was still suffering from night terrors. That is, if night terrors is the appropriate term for casting snake based ninjutsu randomly while sleeping. It got to the point that they had to ask Itachi to put the boy under a genjutsu to get him to sleep at night. Even with the added security of the Uchiha's genjutsu, Shikamaru insisted that the team should have a lookout not only for dangers to the team, but just in case the ex-Kumo nin woke from the genjutsu early.

Ino shook her head and stood up from the base of the tree she was leaning on. The group was currently in the middle of nowhere, searching for someone that may have just been a figment of Jammer's imagination. Apparently, he knew of a shinobi that Orochimaru used to experiment on by the name of Suigetsu. If it were up to her they would be searching for a safe house to stash Jammer until they found out what was wrong with him. But of course, her twin insisted that her group should listen to the person that nearly killed Konohamaru with snakes while trying to sleep. Another reason Itachi was in charge of looking after Jammer at nights.

'_Dear Lord, they're going to be the death of me.'_ She thought to herself as she walked to the small camp they made.

The camp was in between a lone tree and a stream. A campfire surrounded by six sleeping bags, and a single tent with a lunatic and Itachi inside of it. This was "home" for the night. Normally, the sound of the stream flowing off of the rocks would be incredibly soothing; but, it's not so great when you're ears are on the lookout for the sound of a slithering snake. That was the case for Ino at least. She was happy to see that her team trusted her enough to sleep as she kept watch over them, but it would be nice if someone besides Itachi was awake at night with her.

Tiptoeing through the camp, she made her way to the stream and splashed water on her face. She was revolted to see the water that fell back into the stream was tinged with dirt.

'_I haven't looked at my reflection in days.' _Ino shivered at the thought, _'Dare I take a look at what the stress has done to my face?'_

She peered into the stream and nearly gagged at the sight. Of course to anyone else, she looked amazing, but only Ino realized how disgusting her hair was. Not to mention the fact that there were bags underneath her aquamarine eyes. Her once white and purple robe was now cream and a faded blue. The once purple flames that licked the edges of the robe looked more like blotches.

'_Tsunade-sama is never going to give me a present again.'_

She continued to look herself over, eyes falling on the nice healthy scar she received on her right calf from Jammer's freakout. She glanced at the tent that the boy was occupying and shook her head again. Staring back at the water she realized her clothes were starting to get dingy. Her knee-length, black tights were getting holes all around her legs and she was certain they'd need to be replaced soon along with the long-sleeved, black shirt with purple tiger stripes. All custom made of course.

'_We're going to a damn village tomorrow. No matter how bat-shit crazy he acts.'_ She decided.

She made her way to the tent and moved the flap to the side to see Uchiha Itachi staring directly at her. She couldn't help but jump a bit.

"I'm sorry to startle you Ino-chan," the Uchiha began, "But it was you that entered without any sort of warning."

"Yeah, I'm the one with the dangerous doujutsu. I'll be more careful of who I creep out." She responded dryly.

It had been one week since Team Naruto had separated from Team Ino. Which means it has been about six days with Itachi, and Ino's patience was running thin. She tried to be nice at first, but after a small meeting with Shikamaru and Kiba they decided that killing your entire clan is just a bit too creepy. None of the three tried to hide the fact that Itachi creeped them out.

"How is he?" She asked while placing a hand on Jammer's cheek.

"Under control at the moment. I'm not sure what this could be doing to his brain though." Itachi admitted, "I'm sure you understand the dangers of constant genjutsu."

"Yeah, I'm aware." She responded lightly, "But this is the only way the rest of the group can rest. I hate doing this to him though…"

"Would you like to speak with him, Ino-chan?" Itachi asked, not taking his eyes off the girl.

"I really hate it when you read me like that." She smirked at the dark skinned boy in front of her, "Just give me ten minutes please."

Itachi nodded and put his index finger on Jammer's forehead. The Uchiha then made his way to the entrance of the small tent.

"I will keep watch until you are finished." He said as he exited.

Jammer's eyes snapped open and he sat up to see Ino looking at him questioningly. He was about to say something until she mashed her lips onto his. It was a short kiss, but something Ino wanted to do for the last three days. When they were all travelling she couldn't treat him any differently than the others. She couldn't pander to his condition too much. She couldn't tell him how sorry she was that he was going through all the pain he was going through. The only thing she could do was hope that the small kiss would communicate to him all the feelings she's had pent up over the last few days.

"So…I take it everyone is still alive?" Jammer questioned as he rubbed his eyes.

"Don't joke like that, but yes. Everyone is alive. Just a little scared of you." She said as she sat cross-legged across from him.

"You'll have to excuse me for a second, I have no idea where we are. Where's Naruto? Did you ever send a letter to Gaara? And what the hell am I wearing?" He began tugging on the crimson shirt underneath his black flak jacket.

"Naruto is probably in Kumo by now. Itachi sent a raven to Suna. The outfit is complements of Itachi and I." She giggled at the last part, "I figured you'd like it to match with your Akatsuki robe. Your last outfit was kind of…shredded. As for where we are, you've been telling us to head toward Kiri and we're on the outskirts of Water territory now. "

"Oh, that's right. Suigetsu should be around here somewhere." Jammer said as he began to crawl out of the tent only to be stopped by Ino.

"You can't leave the tent until morning. Konohamaru is still freaked out that you almost…hurt-"

"Killed. I almost killed him. Speaking of which, has there been any news on Orichimaru?"

"Not a thing. Information has been scarce lately. Only thing we know is that Pein has been spotted out of Kiri. Itachi says if he's mobile, then he's probably hunting for tailed beasts himself."

"Meaning he's desperate." Jammer concluded.

"Pretty much. Do you…do you think you can stay awake now?"

Jammer gently grabbed Ino's shoulders and rested her head on his lap.

"Get some rest hime." He said softly as he stroked her hair.

The two of them stayed there what seemed like an eternity. A small slice of peace, where Jammer wasn't losing his sanity and Ino wasn't in charge of a team that was hunting and killing missing shinobi. As the blonde slept in his lap, Jammer simply gazed at her face. Neither of them noticing that his eyes resembled snake eyes for the rest of the night.

* * *

**Team Naruto**

Namikaze Naruto wouldn't admit it, but he was having the time of his life. He was currently hunting down two missing nins that were previously hunting for him. His team consisted of a weapons master, two taijustu specialists, and his "rookie of the year". The feeling of an approaching battle was just too much for him. Even the environment around Kumogakure seemed to scream "epic battle" to him. The weather was becoming warmer the closer they got to where the missing nins were located. The humidity from the excess heat drove the blonde to "customize" his shirt. His sister would be so proud of him for destroying his last replacement shirt. He was certain she'd go on a rant about how hard it was to find black and orange shirts in the ninja world.

He couldn't admit to how excited he was due to the fact that his team was relying on him to keep order during the imminent chaos of battle. Not to mention if he actually gave in to his lust for battle, he could end up getting Hanabi hurt. Which reminded him…

"Hanabi," the blonde stated as he stopped his run through the forest, "I think it's about time for you to find a safe spot. I hear Fang is just as ruthless as Mushra."

The young Hyuuga looked at the leader of their group with her hands on her knees. Her sweat drenched black, mesh shirt spoke volumes. She was exhausted, but the idea of leaving her behind wasn't a good plan to her. The young girl had just barely reached genin status before joining the Mirai brigand, and the amount of work they had her doing was entirely too much. That is, for anyone other than the young genius.

"No way. You need me for a bit longer." She defiantly stated.

"Actually," Neji spoke up, "You've done exceedingly well. The original plan was for you to use your Byakuugan to help preserve my chakra. I thank you. Now it is time for you to find a safe area and wait for reinforcements from Suna."

"I TOO AGREE THAT YOUR YOUTHFUL FLAMES WERE HIGHLY ESSENTIAL TO US MAKING IT THIS FAR!" Lee chimed in.

"For crying out loud Lee." Tenten hissed at the boy, "Do you want the whole damn country to know where we are?"

Naruto shook his head at his friend's antics and formed the ram seal. Once a kagebunshin poofed into existence, the original and the clone made a quick nod before the original Naruto began to walk away.

"My bunshin will look after Hanabi. Don't worry, he has enough chakra to protect her." He said more to Neji than the others, "We gotta get moving. I'm starting to smell blood."

"How you can smell anything with this thick ass humidity and fog is beyond me." Tenten said as she began to fan herself, "Kumo isn't supposed to be like this, right?"

"Actually, Kumo is rarely ever as warm as Konohagakure." Hanabi stated matter-of-factly, " The heat around here isn't from natural causes. For it to be so hot to evaporate the water vapors around the wildlife is unheard of in this climate."

"Which means we're probably already at a disadvantage." Naruto concluded, "This is probably Mushra's doing. Which reminds me, no one allow him to make skin contact with you. Remember what happened to Ebisu."

"Is there any reason in particular you don't have to follow this rule, Namikaze?" Neji asked while pointing at Naruto's exposed forearms.

The blonde had completely forgotten he tore the sleeves of his shirt. He wasn't sure if it was the heat that was getting to him, or the fact that he wanted to beat Mushra while exposed. The idea of sending the message to Akatsuki that they can't defeat Mirai was tempting indeed, but in order for the message to be spread he had to ensure he survive the battle.

"I'll be fine. The fox will keep me protected." He said lying through his teeth, "Hanabi, stay where you are. Lee, you and Neji will take down Fang. Tenten, give me long range support against Mushra. Let's do this."

Team Naruto had been traveling for about ten minutes before the smell of blood became strong enough for Naruto to smell without using the Kyuubi's chakra. Actually, the whole group could smell it at this point. Naruto looked back to Neji, whom looked as though he wanted to vomit. The Hyuuga merely pointed ahead as a way of saying 'you'll see soon enough'. Team Naruto continued forward until they reached what seemed to be an abandoned Kumo post in a clearing. The post had flatlands behind it and a pile of rubble from what they assumed to be a type of bunker. They didn't have time to process the surrounding due to the grotesque sight of a small, pale boy chewing on what looked to be a human arm.

The ruby liquid flowing down his lips was enough to make even the most hardened of shinobi gag a little. Upon seeing the crowd he was gathering, the child gave a heinous smile, which revealed bloodstained jagged teeth. He swallowed the last bits of the arm he was eating and threw the remnants to the ground. Letting out a feral scream, he began to pace back and forth as if he was waiting for something. As he paced, Team Naruto could see every notch of the boy's spine in his back. Not to mention the kanji for blood which seemed to be carved into his back. There was no doubt about it; this was the newest member of Akatsuki. Fang. If the telltale kanji on his back wasn't the dead giveaway, certainly the Akatsuki robe wrapped around his waist was an obvious tipoff.

The young boy stopped pacing and picked something up off the ground. He was sure not to let the others see what he had until he turned around with a blood spattered Konoha hitai-ate in between his teeth.

"I'm sorry for my little accomplice," A voice from behind Fang spoke, "He's not much of a talker. Luckily, Pein designated me as his voice."

Mushra came from the fog and placed a gloved hand on Fang's left shoulder. Upon the sight of the man, Tenten immediately reached for her weapons scroll and produced a chain of kunai attached by wire. The older man laughed.

"I see the young lady is ready to get started, but I'm a voice of reason in this impending battle." He said as he patted Fang on his matted and wild hair, "The eight-tails has been sealed. We want the nine tails. You come with us, Namikaze, and we won't lay a hand on your friends. And I must warn you, Fang here loves killing Leaf shinobi the most."

Upon hearing his name, Fang flashed his repulsive grin straight for Tenten. Neji stepped between the gaze of the homicidal child and Tenten.

"And when we give you Naruto, you're just going to end up killing us in the future." Neji glared at the opposing shinobi before them, "Why delay the fight that we're about to have?"

Fang began to howl with laughter maniacally while Mushra let out his own small chuckle. The elder member put his gloved hands to his chin and looked to be in deep thought.

"That's why I like the Hyuuga. Quick and to the point. Fang, go fetch." Mushra nodded to behind him, "He'll be just a second."

While the man stood there with a smile on his face, Naruto motioned for the group to get closer together. Naruto and Lee were in the front while Tenten and Neji were behind them. The blonde spoke low enough for the group to hear him.

"Remember the plan guys. We can take them, they're just trying to psyche us out." Naruto said as he took out his own pair of kunai.

"Ah! There you are Fang." Mushra exclaimed.

The feral boy came back into view while dragging something behind him. Mushra bent down to pick up a bound and gagged Umino Iruka by his hair.

"As you can see, we know quite a bit about you Namikaze. Like how this man in particular is quite important to you." The smile on Mushra's face never fading as he poked at Iruka, "Here, let's get this tape off and let him explain why he's here."

Naruto couldn't move. He was completely unprepared for this kind of an attack. The multiple questions of how Iruka got to Kumo in the first place was driving him insane, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. Even when Mushra ripped the tape off the man's mouth, Naruto could not find his voice.

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted, "Neji, Tenten, Lee, you can't bargain with these two. Remember what I taug-"

"That's enough of that." Mushra laughed as he re-taped the teacher's mouth, "So how about it? This pathetic excuse for a ninja for Naruto. Or is Fang going to have an appetizer before he sinks his…dare I say it? FANGS, into the pretty girl there."

The team was baffled. Why on earth was Iruka here? Was it even really him? Could they risk his life like this? Neji was once again the one to respond first.

"Iruka, you are a shinobi of the Leaf to the end. My eyes tell me that it really is you, and I know you really want us to do what is right by the village." The Hyuuga prodigy glared at the two nuke-nin before him, "So you two can go fuck yourselves. Tenten!"

As her name was called, a rain of kunai came crashing down onto the Akatsuki members which they narrowly avoided. The Tenten that was originally with the group dispersed into a puff of smoke, while Lee vanished through sheer speed and determination. The green clad ninja gave a bone-shattering knee to the face of Fang and continued a relentless assault of punches and kicks.

Mushra cast his gloved right hand off and proceeded to touch Iruka's face, but halted when a senbon needle pierced through his palm. He threw Iruka to the ground and looked to see Tenten with an array of pointy projectiles.

"You die first, bitch." The man shouted.

As he was casting off his other glove, he sensed the bloodlust coming from a young Namikaze Naruto, whom was just a few meters away from Mushra's head with a giant rasengan. The Akatsuki ninja leapt back, but the force of the ball of chakra hitting the ground thrusted him back farther than he planned. Mushra was going through hand seals when a flurry of shuriken and kunai began to speed towards him. He began leaping backwards while facing Naruto, but he knew the brunette girl was running alongside him about thirty meters away. When he was about cast the jutsu he was preparing, he was launched in the air by an explosive tag that was launched behind him.

Tenten stopped sprinting when she saw her target get caught in the explosion, but Naruto's words from the day before echoed in her head.

'_These people are in Akatsuki for a reason. Don't get cocky."_

The girl didn't know why she felt the urge to dive forward, but if she hadn't she would've been grabbed from behind by Mushra. Upon rolling up, she armed herself with a katana and stood in a defensive stance. Though she was prepared for a close-quarters fight, Tenten was happy to see her blonde leader flip over her and deliver an uppercut to the missing nin. The punch was so strong that the purple haired man was lifted into the air, but Naruto wasn't done with him just yet. With strength she never knew he had, the blonde grabbed Mushra by his ankle and slammed him into the ground.

"Get cover!" Naruto shouted to the girl before he was blasted with a cannonball of water.

"So THAT'S how you were able to touch me." Mushra said while standing rub, "I did not see that coming. Very crafty to use that Iwa no Yoroi. Definitely packed a punch alright."

Mushra began walking toward Naruto while rubbing his jaw. The blonde tried to struggle to get up, but was weighted down by an unknown force. He felt as though the entire Akimichi family was sitting on top of him.

"I guess you forgot the downside to that jutsu? Water weighs you down…a lot." Mushra placed a paper seal on Naruto's head, "That's a demonic chakra suppression seal. Pein thought it'd be good to use on you to make sure the fox doesn't come play. And don't even think about dropping that jutsu. We'll be taking you like that for your sealing. You drop it and I kill everyone here…well aside from the one that Fang killed already."

Naruto stared past Mushra's smiling face and began to chuckle. Mushra looked up to see a large scroll flying directly above them. As the man was looking at the sky, the Namikaze summoned all his strength to roll over; which trapped Mushra's ankle underneath the now weighted blonde's body.

"DO IT TENTEN!" Naruto shouted at the girl as he closed his eyes.

Mushra couldn't free his leg no matter how much he struggled. The blonde was simply too heavy. He knew he had to cut off his foot to get free of this, but he had not the time to do so. While reaching for a blade to free himself, weapons of all kinds began to rain down on the two with enough velocity to pierce the earth around them. The purple haired man tried to deflect as many as he could with the water jutsu he used on Naruto, but the weapons proved to be the greater force.

Once the assault stopped, Naruto opened his eyes to see the Akatsuki ninja bleeding profusely from multiple weapon wounds. The Namikaze heir dropped the armor he had on himself and stood up while checking himself for any wounds. Not a scratch on him. He looked over to Mushra, but before he could check to see if he was still alive, a sickle landed in the man's skull.

"I take it you didn't like him." Naruto spoke to Tenten as the girl jogged toward him.

"Not at all." She muttered back, "Where's Lee and Neji?"

The two looked around for their comrades, but couldn't find either of them.

"I guess we covered more ground than we thought." Naruto said as he picked up a kunai embedded in the ground.

The boy cut his thumb and ran through a few hand seals, slamming his hand into the ground when he finished. A green toad the size of Naruto appeared beneath the boy.

"Let's go find them then?" He asked while holding his hand out for the brunette to take.

"Hai." She responded as she hopped onto the toad's back.

* * *

**Sunagakure**

"Kazekage-sama! Kazekage-sama!"

Gaara was about to tear his hair out. He couldn't get any work done because he was worried about the Namikazes. Whenever he did start actually getting things accomplished, Yugito would come in and annoy him until they went out to get food. Now here was another fire he had to put out. A random chuunin freaking out about something that was more than likely a simple matter.

"What?" Gaara asked dryly from his desk.

"Kazekage-sama, it's Akatsuki." The chuunin spoke in between pants, "They're here for you."

Gaara stared at the young man in front of him as if to say "where". The chuunin pointed to the window. Gaara stood from his desk calmly and walked to the window. As he was walking, his gourd began to materialize on his back. He peered out the window to see several dots around the main gates of the village. Shaking his head, he went back to his desk and pulled out a note.

"You give this to Kankuro. Go now." The leader of Suna spoke sternly as he himself walked out of his office.

He didn't have to walk far to find Nii Yugito running towards him with a look of fear in her eyes. The two jinchuriki made brief eye contact before Gaara shook his head and proceeded with heading towards the gates. Yugito followed him with her head down. They knew that it was over.

Once outside, Gaara noticed that all of his active shinobi were standing around the Kage tower. They looked to him for orders of some sort, but were met with a simple command.

"Stand down. Kankuro will be my stand-in until I return. Carry on with missions." Gaara said calmly, "I WILL be back."

"Dattebayo." Yugito said behind him.

Gaara began to laugh lightly while walking towards the gates. He and Yugito stopped once they were outside the village with several Akatsuki members before them. Two of which were Hoshigaki Kisame and Orochimaru, but they looked different due to their bodies being riddled with black spikes.

"Pein, I presume." Gaara more stated than asked.

"Hello Kazekage-sama," the ninja with red spiky hair spoke, "I'm happy to see you willingly accepting your fate. And I heard rumors of Nii Yugito being here as well. Wonderful cover-up."

Orochimaru saw Gaara staring at him and blankly began to speak.

"He's not here anymore. There is just Pein…WE," he said nodding to Kisame, "are Pein."

"If you will please follow us to a more appropriate place," the original Pein began to speak again, "We can begin the ritual. If you resist, we will eradicate this village and all of its inhabitants."

"What is it you're after, Pein?" Gaara walked towards the red haired man with his arms crossed, "What are you truly after? You have the power to conquer everyone, but you simply want the jinchuriki. What is the goal to this pursuit?"

"The goal, Gaara-kun," Pein began, "Is a world without the chaos of being shinobi. There are too many people with too much power. They're dangerous to themselves and others. I've seen these people with my own eyes. I've seen what they can do…I believe we both have."

"So," Yugito spoke as she walked to stand beside Gaara, "You plan on being the supreme ruler? What makes you think people won't rebel against your system the way you're doing it now?"

"They will not come close to the power that I will possess. Eradicating people that I deem evil will not suffice. More will come, they always do. So I plan on taking away their weapons. With all of the tailed beasts, I can seal away chakra from this world entirely."

Just damn. I'm gonna finish this damn story if it kills me. That was a long as FUCK hiatus, but I wanna try to knock a few chapters out. I forgot how much I love doing this. I promise the next chapter won't take as long as this one. Hope you enjoy it. Love love.


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